Gérard Paul Deshayes (; 13 May 1795 – 9 June 1875) was a French

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and

conchologist Conchology () is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs; however, malacology is the study of molluscs as whole organisms, whereas conchology is confined to the study of their shells. It includ ...

Career

He was born in Nancy, his father at that time being professor of experimental physics in the École Centrale of the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

Meurthe He studied

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, and afterwards took the degree of ''bachelier ès lettres'' 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 ...

in 1821; but he abandoned the medical profession in order to devote himself to natural history. For some time he gave private lessons on

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

, and subsequently became professor of natural history in 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 ...

. He was distinguished for his researches on the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

a of the Paris Basin and of other areas

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

cover. His studies on the relations of the fossil to the recent species led him as early as 1829 to conclusions somewhat similar to those arrived at by Lyell, to whom Deshayes rendered much assistance in connection with the classification of the, then,

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

system into

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

and

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58André Étienne d'Audebert de Férussac Baron André Étienne Justin Pascal Joseph François d'Audebert de Férussac (30 December 1786 – 21 January 1836) was a French naturalist best known for his studies of molluscs. (Two of his given names are sometimes spelt Just or Juste instead o ...

, he co-authored an important study on terrestrial and

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

s titled ''Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des Mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles'' (1820-1851). In 1839 he began the publication of his ''Traité élémentaire de conchyliologie'', the last part of which was not issued until 1857. In the same year (1839) he went to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

for the French government, and spent three years in explorations in that country. His principal work, which resulted from the collections he made, ''Mollusques de l'Algérie'', was issued (incomplete) in 1848. He was a member of the Société Géologique de France, of which he served as chairman several times.Dictionnaire universel des contemporains, Volume 1 by Gustave Vapereau
/ref> In 1870 the Wollaston medal of the Geological Society of London was awarded to him. He died in

Boran-sur-Oise Boran-sur-Oise (, literally ''Boran on Oise'') is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 679 communes of the Oise department of France. T ...

Works

His publications included: *''Description des coquilles fossiles des environs de Paris'' (2 vols. and atlas, 1824-1837) *''Description de coquilles caractéristiques des terrains.– Paris: F. G. Levrault, 1831.– 264 pp., 14 pls.'' *''Mollusques. In: Saint-Hilaire G., Deshayes G., Saint-Vincent B., Saint-Vincent B. Expédition scientifique de Morée. Section des sciences physiques. Tome III. Première partie. Zoologie. Première section.– Animaux vertébrés, mollusques et polypies.– Paris-Strasbourg: F. G. Levrault., 1832.– p. 81-203, pls. 18-26.'' * ''Traité élémentaire de conchyliologie avec les applications de cette science à la geologie.'' ** (1839-1853)
Premiere Partie - Introduction
(part 1 - Introduction) ** (1843-1850)
Seconde Partie - Conchiféres dimyaires
(Part 2) ** (1839-1853)
Explication des planches
(Explanation of plates) ** (1839-1857)
Atlas
(Atlas of plates) *''Description des animaux sans vertèbres découverts dans le bassin de Paris'' (3 vols. and atlas, 1856-1866) *''Catalogue des mollusques de l'île de la Reunion'' (1863).

Taxa named by Gérard Paul Deshayes

*''

Bursa lamarckii ''Bursa lamarckii'' (Lamarck's frog shell) is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Bursidae, the frog shells. Description The shell size varies between 33 mm and 80 mm. Distribution This species is distrib ...

'' - Lamarck's frog shell

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deshayes, Gerard 19th-century French geologists French paleontologists Paleozoologists 1795 births 1875 deaths Conchologists French malacologists French taxonomists Wollaston Medal winners Scientists from Nancy, France 19th-century French zoologists National Museum of Natural History (France) people