Jean Pierre Flourens

Marie -Jean -Pierre Flourens ( born April 13, 1794 in Béziers, † December 6, 1867 in Montgeron ) was a French physiologist.

Life and work

Pierre Flourens studied medicine at the University of Montpellier, where he took courses in particular by Augustin - de Candolle Pyrame. In 1813 he received his doctorate of medicine. He worked thereafter but almost exclusively with questions of natural history. The following year, he went with a letter provided to Paris to Jean -Baptiste Lamarck, Étienne Geoffroy Saint- Hilaire and Antoine Portal ( 1742-1832 ).

Flourens explored, including through animal experiments, the localization of brain activities. Flourens in 1828 was inducted into the Academy of Sciences and appointed in 1855 professor at the Collège de France. Under the influence of Georges Cuvier, Flourens became one of the greatest scientific opponents of Phrenology Franz Joseph Gall.

Flourens gained not only in science awareness: In 1837 he became a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1846 and a member of the Chamber of Peers. In the election for replacement of the 29th chair of the Académie Française, he could continue to enforce in the fourth round against Victor Hugo, which led to protests by the literary press and the public.

Works

• Examen de la phrenology (1842 )