Henri Blanc (zoologist)

Henri Blanc
Blanc c. 1908
Born
Henri-Charles-Louis Blanc

(1859-09-15)15 September 1859
Lausanne, Switzerland
Died10 May 1930(1930-05-10) (aged 70)
Alma materUniversity of Lausanne
Freiburg im Breisgau
OccupationZoologist
Scientific career
FieldsZoology

Henri-Charles-Louis Blanc (15 September 1859 – 10 May 1930) was a Swiss zoologist at the University of Lausanne. He took an interest in aquatic animals, describing numerous species from Lake Geneva. He was also curator of the natural history museum in Lausanne.

Blanc was born in Lausanne to Charles Francois and Jeanne Susanne née Rey. He received a degree in science from the University of Lausanne before going to Freiburg im Breisgau where he received a doctorate in 1880. He then worked at museums in Kiel and Berlin with Karl Möbius and returned to Lausanne in 1883 as a lecturer in histology at the medicine faculty. He became a full professor in 1891, while also becoming curator of the zoology museum (following the death of Jean-Jacques Larguier des Bancels) which he reorganized in 1909 at the Palais de Rumine. He was a founder of the Swiss Naturalists Society. He examined the fauna of Lake Geneva along with F. A. Forel[1] and took a special interest in the freshwater foraminifera.[2][3][4] He wrote textbooks on comparative anatomy. He retired in 1929.[5][6]

It has been claimed[7] that Psammodromus blanci was named in his honour but that species was named after its discoverer, a Marius Blanc.[8]

  1. ^ Egerton, Frank N. (1962-09-01). "The scientific contributions of françois alphonse forel, the founder of limnology". Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Hydrologie. 24 (2): 181–199. doi:10.1007/BF02503034. ISSN 1420-9055. S2CID 10272359.
  2. ^ Holzmann, M. (2002). "Freshwater foraminiferans from Lake Geneva: past and present". The Journal of Foraminiferal Research. 32 (4): 344–350. doi:10.2113/0320344. ISSN 0096-1191.
  3. ^ Blanc, Henri (1885). "New Rhizopoda of the deep-water fauna of the Lake of Geneva". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 15 (89): 427. doi:10.1080/00222938509459361. ISSN 0374-5481.
  4. ^ Blanc, Henri (1885). "XLI.— Note on Ceratium hirundinella ( O. F. Müller ), its variability and mode of reproduction". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 16 (96): 444–453. doi:10.1080/00222938509459910. ISSN 0374-5481.
  5. ^ Lienhard, Luc. "Henri Blanc (zoologiste)". Le Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (in French).
  6. ^ Murisier, P. (1930). "Professeur Dr Henri Blanc 1859-1930". Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft (in German). 111: 487–492.
  7. ^ Beolens B; Watkins, M.; Grayson, M. (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5.
  8. ^ Lataste, F. (1880). "Diagnoses de reptilies nouveaux d'Algerie". Le Naturaliste. 2 (38): 299.