Paul Carnot (16 January 1869, in

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

– 1 April 1957, 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 ...

) was a French physician. He served as ''médecin des hôpitaux'' in

, becoming a professor of therapeutic medicine in 1918 to the Paris medical faculty. In 1922 he was elected as a member to the ''

Académie de Médecine An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

''.

Career

In 1906 he coined the term ''hémopoïétine'' (

hemopoietin Erythropoietin (; EPO), also known as erythropoetin, haematopoietin, or haemopoietin, is a glycoprotein cytokine secreted mainly by the kidneys in response to cellular hypoxia; it stimulates red blood cell production (erythropoiesis) in the b ...

) to define a humoral factor he believed was responsible for regulation of

red blood cell Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...

production. This being based on experiments with laboratory rabbits that he conducted with his graduate student Clotilde-Camille DeFlandre. They noticed that an increase of

reticulocyte Reticulocytes are immature red blood cells (RBCs). In the process of erythropoiesis (red blood cell formation), reticulocytes develop and mature in the bone marrow and then circulatory system, circulate for about a day in the blood stream before ...

s in normal rabbits occurred following the injection of

blood plasma Blood plasma is a light amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but contains proteins and other constituents of whole blood in suspension. It makes up about 55% of the body's total blood volume. It is the intra ...

taken from

anemic Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

donor rabbits who had earlier been subject to

bloodletting Bloodletting (or blood-letting) is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily flu ...

. Findings from their research were published in a paper titled ''Sur l'activité hémopoïétique du sérum au cours de la régénération du sang'' (On the hemopoietic activity of serum during the regeneration of blood). Carnot was the author of numerous treatises on a wide array of medical subjects. With

Paul Brouardel Paul Camille Hippolyte Brouardel (13 February 1837, Saint-Quentin, Aisne – 23 July 1906) was a French pathologist, hygienist, and member of the Académie Nationale de Médecine. In 1858 he became an externe at the Hôpital Cochin in Paris, an ...

(1837–1906),

Augustin Nicolas Gilbert Augustin Nicolas Gilbert (15 February 1858 – 4 March 1927) was a French physician. He was born in the town of Buzancy, Ardennes, and died in Paris. He received his doctorate from the University of Paris and became an interne at the Hôtel-Dieu ...

(1858–1927) and others, he published the multi-volume ''Nouveau traité de médecine et de thérapeutique''. The following are a few of his better known writings: * ''Les régénerations d'organes'', 1899 (Regeneration of organs) * ''Maladies microbiennes en général'', 1905 (Microbial illnesses in general) * ''Médications histopoiétiques et médications histolytiques'', 1911 (Medications histopoietic and histolytic) * ''Precis de therapeutique'', 1925 (Summary of therapy) * ''La clinique medicale de l'Hôtel-Dieu et l'oeuvre du Pr Gilbert'' 1927 (The Medical Clinic of the

Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...

and the work of Professor Gilbert) His great-grand-father was

Lazare Carnot Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Count Carnot (; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist and politician. He was known as the "Organizer of Victory" in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Education and early ...

, a French

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

, his father,

Marie Adolphe Carnot Marie Adolphe Carnot (27 January 1839 – 20 June 1920) was a French chemist, mining engineer and politician. He came from a distinguished family: his father, Hippolyte Carnot, and brother, Marie François Sadi Carnot, were politicians, the la ...

was an engineer, head of the French École des Mines de Paris.''Annales des Mines''
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References

IDREF.fr
(list of publications) {{DEFAULTSORT:Carnot, Paul People from Limoges Academic staff of the University of Paris 20th-century French physicians 1869 births 1957 deaths