Henri Edgard Devaux (6 July 1862 – 14 March 1956) was a French botanist, biophysicist, and plant physiologist who worked on gas exchange and membranes. In his studies on thin films, he was one of the pioneers of surface chemistry and molecular biophysics. Devaux was born in Etaules and went to study pharmacy at the University of Bordeaux with a scholarship. He then went to the

University of Sorbonne The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...

and received a doctorate in 1889 for work under

Gaston Bonnier Gaston Eugène Marie Bonnier (9 April 1853 in Paris – 2 January 1922) was a French botanist and plant ecologist. Biography Bonnier first studied at École Normale Supérieure in Paris from 1873 to 1876. Together with Charles Flahault, he st ...

on gas exchange in plant tissues. In 1896 he noted the absorption of metal ions in the cell membranes of aquatic plants and examined ion exchange through the effects of sodium of potassium ion concentrations in the surroundings. He became the first chair of plant physiology at the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Ta ...

in 1906 after spending time in the

University of Dijon A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. From 1903 he began to take an interest in the physics of surfaces. He was a popular demonstrator and experimenter, and his demonstrations on oil monolayer films on water with talc, camphor and toy boats were popular. He also made use of mercury and with this approach, using a known amount of liquid, he was able to compute the surface area of circular mono-layers of various fats, oils and proteins and estimate molecular weights. Devaux was brought up in a religious Protestant upbringing in a family that included many generations who worked as sailors and farmers. He was disturbed by the death of his father in 1886 and began to examine the role of religion and his own science. From 1890 he became more religious and often wrote on his spiritual views in his laboratory notes and even some of his scientific works. He rejected

Claude Bernard Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. Historian I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term ''milieu intérieur'', and the a ...

's idea for the separation of religion and science. He also rejected ideas of evolution and believed in Biblical Creation. In 1931, Devaux shared the Laura Leonard Prize with

Agnes Pockels Agnes Luise Wilhelmine Pockels (14 February 1862 – 21 November 1935) was a German chemist whose research was fundamental in establishing the modern discipline known as surface science, which describes the properties of liquid and solid surf ...

for their respective investigations of the properties of surface layers and surface films.

References

External links

Benjamin Le Roux. (2019). Comprendre la structure moléculaire du vivant au début du XXe siècle : Une biographie scientifique d'Henri Devaux (1862-1956). Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences. Université de Bordeaux. Français.
(Biographical thesis on Devaux, in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Devaux, Henri 1862 births 1956 deaths Biophysicists French scientists Academic staff of the University of Bordeaux