August Alphonse Derbès (8 May 1818, Marseille – 27 January 1894, Marseille) was a
French professor of
naturalist,
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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...
and
botanist at the
University of Marseille
Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II o ...
who studied reproduction of
sea urchins and of
algae. Derbès was the first scientist to observe the fertilization of an egg in an animal when he detailed the process of an envelope forming around the
gamete
A gamete (; , ultimately ) is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as sex cells. In species that produce ...
during sea urchin reproduction, a process now known to be associated with
Ca2+ release.
References
1818 births
Scientists from Marseille
1894 deaths
Academic staff of Aix-Marseille University
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