Henri Milne-Edwards | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1800-10-23)23 October 1800 |
| Died | 29 July 1885(1885-07-29) (aged 84) Paris,French Third Republic |
| Alma mater | University of Paris |
| Awards | Copley Medal (1856) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Zoology |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Milne-Edwards |
Henri Milne-Edwards (23 October 1800 – 29 July 1885) was a Frenchzoologist.
Henri Milne-Edwards was the 27th child ofWilliam Edwards, an English planter and colonel of the militia inJamaica andElisabeth Vaux, a Frenchwoman. Henri was born inBruges, in present-dayBelgium, where his parents had retired; Bruges was then a part of the newbornFrench Republic. His father had been jailed for several years for helping some Englishmen in their escape to their country. Henri spent most of his life in France. He was brought up in Paris by his older brotherGuillaume Frederic Edwards (1777–1842), a distinguished physiologist and ethnologist. His father was released after the fall ofNapoleon. The whole family then moved to Paris.
At first he turned his attention to medicine, in which he graduated as anMD at Paris in 1823. His passion for natural history soon prevailed, and he gave himself up to the study of the lower forms of animal life. He became a student ofGeorges Cuvier and befriendedJean Victoire Audouin.
He married Laura Trézel. They had nine children, including the biologistAlphonse Milne-Edwards.
Originally the name Milne was one of the first names of Henri, but, to avoid confusion with his numerous relatives, he added it to his surname Edwards. He usually wrote it as "Milne Edwards", whilst his son Alphonse always used "Milne-Edwards". In taxon-authorship, the hyphenated name "Milne-Edwards" is most often used for both father and son.[1]
One of his earliest papers (Recherches anatomiques sur les crustacés), which was presented to theFrench Academy of Sciences in 1829, formed the theme of an elaborate and eulogistic report by Cuvier in the following year. It embodied the results of twodredging expeditions undertaken by him and his friend Audouin during 1826 and 1828 in the neighbourhood ofGranville, and was remarkable for clearly distinguishing the marine fauna of that portion of the French coast into four zones.
Also in 1829, working in the scientific field ofherpetology, he described and named five new species oflizards.[2]
He became professor of hygiene and natural history in 1832 at theCollège Central des Arts et Manufactures. In 1841, after the death of Audouin, he succeeded him at the chair of entomology at theMuséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. In 1862 he succeededIsidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in the long-vacant chair of zoology.
Much of his original work was published in theAnnales des sciences naturelles, with the editorship of which he was associated from 1834. Of his books may be mentioned theHistoire naturelle des Crustacés (3 vols., 1837–1841), which long remained a standard work;Histoire naturelle des coralliaires, published in 1858–1860, but begun many years before;Leçons sur la physiologie et l'anatomie comparée de l'homme et des animaux (1857–1881), in 14 volumes; and a little work on the elements of zoology, originally published in 1834, but subsequently remodelled, which enjoyed an enormous circulation.
In 1842, he was elected a foreign member of theRoyal Society. The Royal Society in 1856 awarded him theCopley Medal in recognition of his zoological investigations. He was elected an international member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1860.[3] He died in Paris. His son, Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1835–1900), who became professor of ornithology at the museum in 1876, devoted himself especially to fossil birds and deep-sea exploration.
An important early classification scheme for vertebrates, diagrammed as a series of nested sets, was illustrated in Milne-Edwards (1844).[4]
The name of Henri Milne-Edwards is honoured in several names of genera and species, such as:[1][unreliable source?]
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