Claude Charles Goureau (15 April 1790,

Pisy Pisy () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. See also *Communes of the Yonne department The following is a list of the 423 communes of the Yonne department of France. The communes coopera ...

Yonne Yonne () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight constituent departments, it is lo ...

– 6 February 1879, Santigny) was a French

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

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 ...

. In 1808, he entered L'École Polytechnique, training there until 1810. He then spent two years at , a military academy in

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

where he was awarded the rank of second lieutenant. During the siege of

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

in 1812, he was promoted to the rank of captain, then, in 1814 to and he also received the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. He was in command of various fortifications, not only those of

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 ...

in 1840, but also forts guarding the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

Mayenne Mayenne () is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Ille-et ...

and

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

. In 1846, he became an Officer of the Legion of Honour. After his retirement, in 1850, to Santigny, he became fully occupied with entomology. Goureau was especially devoted to the study of harmful (and later beneficial) insects. He became a member of the

Société entomologique de France The Société entomologique de France, or French Entomological Society, is devoted to the study of insects. The society was founded in 1832 in Paris, France. The society was created by eighteen Parisian entomologists on January 31, 1832. The first ...

in 1835, becoming vice-president in 1842, 1844 and 1851, president in 1845 and 1852 and an honorary member in 1866. He is credited as being the first to recognize structural colors in the seemingly clear transparent wings of

Drosophilidae The Drosophilidae are a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies, which includes species called fruit flies, although they are more accurately referred to as vinegar or pomace flies. Another distantly related family of flies, Tephritidae, are true f ...

in 1843.
/ref>

Works

Partial list *''Les Insectes nuisibles aux arbres fruitiers, aux plantes potagères, aux céréales et aux plantes fourragères'' (two volumes, V. Masson et fils, Paris, 1861-1865). *''Les Insectes nuisibles à l'homme, aux animaux et à l'économie domestiques'' (V. Masson et fils, Paris, 1866). *''Les Insectes nuisibles aux forêts et aux arbres d'avenues'' (V. Masson et fils, Paris, 1867). *''Les Insectes nuisibles aux arbustes et aux plantes de parterre'' (V. Masson et fils, Paris, 1869). *''Les insectes utiles à l'homme'' (V. Masson et fils, Paris, 1872).

Sources

*Jean Gouillard (2004). Histoire des entomologistes français, 1750-1950. Édition entièrement revue et augmentée. Boubée (Paris) : 287 p. *French Wikipedia Translation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goreau, Claude Charles French entomologists French soldiers 1790 births 1879 deaths 19th-century French zoologists People from Yonne Presidents of the Société entomologique de France École Polytechnique alumni