Charles Émile Blanchard (6 March 1819 – 11 February 1900) was a French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Career

Blanchard was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. His father was an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and naturalist and Émile began natural history very early in life. When he was 14 years old,

Jean Victoire Audouin Jean Victor Audouin (27 April 1797 – 9 November 1841), sometimes Victor Audouin, was a French natural history, naturalist, an entomologist, Herpetology, herpetologist, ornithologist, and malacologist. Biography Audouin was born in Paris and was ...

(1797—1841), allowed him access to the laboratory of the

Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

. In 1838, he became a technician or ''préparateu''r in this then, as now, famous institution. In 1841, he became assistant-naturalist. He accompanied

Henri Milne-Edwards Henri Milne-Edwards (23 October 1800 – 29 July 1885) was an eminent French zoologist. Biography Henri Milne-Edwards was the 27th child of William Edwards, an English planter and colonel of the militia in Jamaica and Elisabeth Vaux, a Frenchw ...

(1800—1885) and Jean Louis Armand de Quatrefages de Breau (1810—1892) to

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

on a

marine zoology Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

expedition. He published, in 1845 a ''Histoire des insectes'', or History of the insects and, in 1854—1856 ''Zoologie agricole'' or Agricultural Zoology. This last work is remarkable: it presents in a precise way the harmful or pest species and the damage they cause to various crop plants. This work was illustrated by his father. Blanchard was critical of

Darwinism Darwinism is a scientific theory, theory of Biology, biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of smal ...

. He argued that

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

's pigeon studies were unscientific and that his ideas about

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

were false and unoriginal.Glick, Thomas F. (1988). ''The Comparative Reception of Darwinism''. University of Chicago Press. p. 148. In 1870, Blanchard and

Charles-Philippe Robin Charles-Philippe Robin (4 June 1821 – 6 October 1885) was a French anatomist, biologist, and histologist born in Jasseron, département Ain. He studied medicine in Paris, and while still a student took a scientific journey with Hermann Lebert ...

opposed the election of Darwin as a corresponding member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

. He published an atlas of the anatomy of the

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

s which appeared between 1852 and 1864. This publication raised his hopes to obtain the

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s and

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

at the Natural History Museum left vacant by the death of

Auguste Duméril Auguste Henri André Duméril (30 November 1812 – 12 November 1870) was a French zoologist. His father, André Marie Constant Duméril (1774-1860), was also a zoologist. In 1869 he was elected as a member of the Académie des sciences. Duméril ...

(1812—1870) but it was finally

Léon Vaillant Léon Louis Vaillant (; 11 November 1834 – 24 November 1914) was a French zoologist. He is most famous for his work in the areas of herpetology, malacology, and ichthyology. In 1854 he graduated from the College d'Arras, followed by studie ...

(1834—1914) who was selected. However, in 1862, he was given the chair of natural history of

Crustacea Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

Arachnida Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroon ...

and

Insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s. He left this in 1894 following his infirmity. He was elected, in 1862 into the

Academy of Science An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unit ...

. He began to lose his sight after 1860 and became blind in 1890. He died in Paris.Global Ant Project
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Selected publications

''The Transformations (or Metamorphoses) of Insects''
(1870) ith Duncan P. Martin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Emile 1819 births 1900 deaths Blind people from France French entomologists French zoologists Members of the French Academy of Sciences National Museum of Natural History (France) people Scientists from Paris