Noël Pierre Joseph León Bernard (13 March 1874 in the

17th arrondissement of Paris The 17th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le dix-septième'' (; "the seventeenth"). The arrondissement, known as Batignoll ...

– 16 January 1911 in Saint-Benoît, Vienne) was a French

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, known as the famous discoverer of the symbiotic germination of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

seeds. He also discovered

Phytoalexin Phytoalexins are antimicrobial substances, some of which are antioxidative as well. They are defined, not by their having any particular chemical structure or character, but by the fact that they are defensively synthesized ''de novo'' by plants t ...

s which are

antimicrobial An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...

and often

antioxidative Antioxidants are Chemical compound, compounds that inhibit Redox, oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce Radical (chemistry), free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to indust ...

substances synthesized ''de novo'' by

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s that accumulate rapidly at areas of

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

infection.

Early life and education

His father was François Bernard, a wealthy cloth and textiles distributor based in

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

in southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, who moved to

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 ...

and died when Bernard was 5 years old. His mother was Marie-Marguerite, who worked as a

milliner Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

to fund his studies. Bernard was considered an outstanding student while attending the

Lycée Charlemagne The Lycée Charlemagne is located in the Marais quarter of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, the capital city of France. Constructed many centuries before it became a lycée, the building originally served as the home of the Order of the Jesuit ...

later

Lycée Condorcet The Lycée Condorcet () is a school founded in 1803 in Paris, France, located at 8, rue du Havre, in the city's 9th arrondissement. It is one of the four oldest high schools in Paris and also one of the most prestigious. Since its inception, var ...

senior high schools, both located in Paris, in preparation for entry to the

Grandes Ecoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician *Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

, of which he eventually gained entry to the grand school

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

. Bernard eventually gained a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

with Honours between 1895 and 1897 in Mathematics, Physics, Biology and Geology. Around the same time, he started giving lessons to repay his mothers debts, sometimes to royal families, e.g.

Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to ...

, Princess Bibesco, which was ironic as he considered himself an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

. In 1898, he prepared for the prestigious ''

Agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''professe ...

Des Sciences Naturelles'' examination for selection of high school teachers. He shared first place with Charles Pérez, the future Professor of

Zoology 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, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Career

In 1898, Noël Bernard, started a thesis on orchids at the botany department of the Ecole Normale Supèrieure under Professor J. Constantin with a thesis entitled: ''Studies on tuberization'' in 1901. He also took a courses in microbiology at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

, taught by

Émile Duclaux Émile Duclaux (24 June 1840 – May 2, 1904) was a French microbiologist and chemist born in Aurillac, Cantal. He studied at the College of Aurillac, the Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris and at École Normale Supérieure. In 1862 he began work as ...

, Roux and

Élie Metchnikoff Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (russian: Илья Ильич Мечников; – 15 July 1916), also spelled Élie Metchnikoff, was a Russian zoologist best known for his pioneering research in immunology. Belkin, a Russian science historian, explains ...

. At the age of 25, while out a walk in the

Fontainebleau forest The forest of Fontainebleau (french: Forêt de Fontainebleau, or ''Forêt de Bière'', meaning "forest of heather") is a mixed deciduous forest lying southeast of Paris, France. It is located primarily in the arrondissement of Fontainebleau ...

close to

Melun Melun () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the kilome ...

he discovered a dead, broken

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

of the

achlorophyllous Myco-heterotrophy (from Greek μύκης , "fungus", ἕτερος ', "another", "different" and τροφή ', "nutrition") is a symbiotic relationship between certain kinds of plants and fungi, in which the plant gets all or part of its food fro ...

orchid ''Neottia nidus-avis'' that suggested to him a theory for orchid seed germination. He presented his ideas regarding the orchid seed germination to the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

in the same year. Bernard had made an enemy at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in

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 ...

, who failed to support Bernard for a full professorship. Bonnier called Bernard the ''l’homme aux tubercules'', the tuber guy, and pushed him to move to

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Caen Botanical Institute headed by Octave Lignier. After Bernard's death, Bonnier told Bernard's family that he regretted not having enrolled Bernard in his own laboratory. In 1908 he was appointed a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

at the

University of Poitiers The University of Poitiers (UP; french: Université de Poitiers) is a public university located in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group. It is multidisciplinary and contributes to making Poitiers the city with the highest studen ...

to teach botany. He worked primarily on the

mycorrhizae A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant ...

in the role of

seed germination. He demonstrated at the Botanical Institute of the Garden of plants of

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Émile Borel Félix Édouard Justin Émile Borel (; 7 January 1871 – 3 February 1956) was a French mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Math ...

, biologist

Maurice Caullery Maurice Jules Gaston Corneille Caullery (5 September 1868, Bergues – 13 July 1958, Paris) was a French biologist. Biography He was born in Bergues in north France on 5 September 1868. His early education was in Douai. He began as a lectu ...

and the physicist

Aimé Cotton Aimé Auguste Cotton (9 October 1869 – 16 April 1951) was a French physicist known for his studies of the interaction of light with chiral molecules. In the absorption bands of these molecules, he discovered large values of optical rotator ...

, he co-published the scientific and literary journal

La Revue du mois ''La Revue du mois'' was a scientific and literary journal founded in 1906 by Émile Borel and his wife Marguerite Appell (called Camille Marbo). Its editorial board included Jean Perrin, Paul Langevin, Aimé Cotton, Jacques Duclaux, Henri Mouto ...

Personal life

In 1907, he married Marie-Louise Martin, a mathematician from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses.They had a son, Francis. Bernard died when he was finally overcome with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

Publications

* Etudes sur la tubérisation exte imprimé/ par M. Noe͏̈l Bernard / Paris : P. Dupont, 1901 * Etudes sur la tubérisation exte imprimé/ par Noël Bernard... / Paris : P. Dupont, 1902 * Mécanismes physiques d'actions parasitaires exte imprimé/ Noël Bernard / Caen, 1902 * Conditions physiques de la tubérisation chez les végétaux exte imprimé/ par M. Noel Bernard / aris : Gauthier-Villars, 1902* La germination des orchidées exte imprimé/ par M. Noel Bernard / aris : Gauthier-Villars, 1903* Nouvelles espèces d'endophytes d'orchidées exte imprimé/ par M. Noël Bernard / aris : Gauthier-Villars, 1905* Symbioses d'orchidées et de divers champignons endophytes exte imprimé/ par M. Noel Bernard / aris : Gauthier-Villars, 1906* Remarques sur l'immunité chez les plantes exte imprimé/ par Noël Bernard / Paris : Masson, 1909 * L'évolution des plantes / par Noël Bernard ; préface de J. Costantin / Paris : F. Alcan, 1916 * Notions générales sur le paludisme et les moyens de le combattre dans les Centres agricoles et forestiers de la Cochinchine / Noel Bernard / Saïgon : Imprimerie Nouvelle Marcel Portail, 1919 * Principes de biologie végétale exte imprimé/ par Noël Bernard / Paris : Félix Alcan, 1921 * L'évolution des plantes exte imprimé/ par Noël Bernard,... ; préf. de J. Costantin,... / Nouvelle éd. / Paris : Félix Alcan, 1932 * On the germination of Orchids exte imprimé/ by Noël Bernard... / London,

907 __NOTOC__ Year 907 ( CMVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Rus'–Byzantine War: Varangian prince Oleg of Novgorod leads the ...

* La culture des orchidées dans ses rapports avec la symbiose exte imprimé: conférence faite à Gand, le 24 avril 1908, aux membres du jury et aux exposants de la XVIe exposition internationale d'horticulture, à l'occasion du centenaire de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand : publiée par les soins de la Société / Noël Bernard / Gand (belgique) : E. Sacré, 908?* L'évolution dans la symbiose exte imprimé: les orchidées et leurs champignons commensaux / par Noël Bernard / Paris : Masson et Cie, Éditeurs, 909?

References

External links

Identifiants et Référentiels pour l'ESR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Noel 1874 births 1911 deaths 20th-century French botanists Academic staff of the University of Poitiers 19th-century French botanists