Jean Binot (11 August 1867 – 25 November 1909) was a French
microbiologist
A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...
born in
Saint-Mandé,
Val-de-Marne.
He studied medicine in
Paris, where one of his instructors was
Raphael Blanchard
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...
(1857–1919). In 1887 he began work as an assistant préparateur in
histology at the
Collège de France, followed by an assignment as externe to the hospitals of Paris. In 1892 he became a hospital interne, and during the following year began taking courses in microbiology at the
Pasteur Institute in Paris. From 1896 to 1900 he served as préparateur in
Amédée Borrel's microbiology laboratory.
In 1899 he obtained his medical doctorate with a thesis titled ''Étude expérimentale sur le tétanos'' (Experimental study on
tetanus). From 1900 to 1909 he was laboratory chief at the Pasteur Institute.
From 1898 onward, Binot took over 15,000 photographs of places he visited during his scientific journeys in Europe and Africa. In 1901 he traveled to
Réunion
Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...
and
Madagascar. In Réunion he photographed a
total eclipse of the Sun, and experienced a plague epidemic affecting the islands' cattle.
In 1900 he undertook research of
microflora of the
Mont Blanc massif, staying at the laboratory of
astronomer Jules Janssen (1824-1907), who had an
observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
on Mont Blanc. During his career, he amassed a large and varied collection of
microorganisms
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
for research purposes.
References
Service des Archives de l'Institut Pasteur(biography)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Binot, Jean
People from Val-de-Marne
1909 deaths
French microbiologists
1867 births