Édouard Chatton (; 11 October 1883 – 23 April 1947) was a French biologist who first characterized the distinction between the prokaryotic and

eukaryotic Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...

cellular types. Chatton coined the terms and published them first in his 1937 paper ''"Pansporella perplex: Reflections on the Biology and Phylogeny of the Protozoa."'' Chatton was born in Romont, Switzerland. His initial interest was in various human pathogenic

protozoa Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris. Histo ...

, members of the Apicomplexa and

Trypanosomatid Trypanosomatida is a group of kinetoplastid excavates distinguished by having only a single flagellum. The name is derived from the Greek ''trypano'' (borer) and ''soma'' (body) because of the corkscrew-like motion of some trypanosomatid species. ...

s. He later expanded his studies to include

marine protists Marine protists are defined by their habitat as protists that live in Marine habitat, marine environments, that is, in the saline water, saltwater of seas or oceans or the brackish water of coastal Estuary, estuaries. Life originated as marine ...

, helping to contribute to the description of the dinoflagellate protists. At the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

he met and became a mentor to

André Michel Lwoff André Michel Lwoff (8 May 1902 – 30 September 1994) was a French microbiologist and Nobel laureate of Russian-Polish origin. Education, early life and career Lwoff was born in Ainay-le-Château, Allier, in Auvergne, France, the son of Marie (S ...

, future

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

in Physiology or Medicine. The two scientists remained associates until Chatton's death in 1947, in Banyuls-sur-Mer, France.

References

External links

A timeline of Chatton's life
on Pasteur.fr 20th-century French zoologists Evolutionary biologists 1883 births 1947 deaths {{France-zoologist-stub