René-Édouard Claparède (24 April 1832 in

Chancy Chancy is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. The westernmost point of the country is located there. History Chancy is first mentioned in 1240 as ''Chancie''. Geography Chancy has an area, , of . Of this area, or 52.2% is u ...

– 31 May 1871 in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

) was a Swiss

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

. The Claparède family was Protestant and originally from

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

. They moved to Geneva after Louis XIV:s

Edict of Fontainebleau The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...

in 1685. He received his education in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where he attended lectures given by

Johannes Peter Müller Johannes Peter Müller (14 July 1801 – 28 April 1858) was a German physiologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, ichthyology, ichthyologist, and herpetology, herpetologist, known not only for his discoveries but also for his ability ...

. Later on, he served as an assistant to

François Jules Pictet de la Rive François Jules Pictet-De la Rive (27 September 180915 March 1872) was a Swiss zoologist and palaeontologist. Biography He was born in Geneva. He graduated B. Sc. at Geneva in 1829, and pursued his studies for a short time at Paris, where under ...

at the

Geneva Academy Geneva Academy is a private classical Christian education, classical Christian school located in Lincoln, Delaware. The school was founded in 2007 by a group of homeschool parents, taking inspiration from Dorothy Sayers essay "The Lost Tools of ...

, where in 1862 he became a professor of

comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

. He was a regular contributor to th
''Archives des sciences physiques et naturelles''
Claparède, René-Edouard
Historischen Lexikon der Schweiz REClaparède1

His main research dealt with the structure of

infusoria Infusoria are minute freshwater life forms including ciliates, euglenoids, protozoa, unicellular algae and small invertebrates. Some authors (e.g., Bütschli) used the term as a synonym for Ciliophora. In modern formal classifications, the term i ...

, the anatomy of

annelids The annelids (Annelida , from Latin ', "little ring"), also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecolo ...

, the

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...

of earthworms, the

embryology Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

and the evolution of spiders. Species with the epithet of ''claparedii'' commemorate his name, an example being the

sea anemone Sea anemones are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates of the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemones are classifi ...

Edwardsia claparedii ''Edwardsia claparedii'' is a species of sea anemone in the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relation ...

''. Claparède stressed the importance of studying and illustrating living or recently killed organisms and he did not deposit any museum specimens. He died aged 39 from

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 ...

Selected works

* ''Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte der Neritina fluviatilis'', 1857 – Anatomy and developmental history of '' Neritina fluviatilis''. * ''Études sur les infusoires et les rhizopodes'', 1858 (with Johannes Lachmann) – Studies of infusoria and

rhizopods An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; plural ''am(o)ebas'' or ''am(o)ebae'' ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of Cell (biology), cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and ret ...

. * ''De la formation et de la fécondation des œufs chez les vers nématodes'', 1859 – The formation and egg fertilization in

nematode The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-Parasitism, parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhab ...

worms. * ''Recherches sur l'evolution des araignées'', 1862 – Research on the evolution of spiders. * ''Recherches anatomiques sur les oligochètes'', 1862 – Anatomical research on

Oligochaeta Oligochaeta () is a subclass of animals in the phylum Annelida, which is made up of many types of aquatic and terrestrial worms, including all of the various earthworms. Specifically, oligochaetes comprise the terrestrial megadrile earthworm ...

. * ''Beobachtungen über Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte wirbelloser Thiere an der Küste von Normandie'', 1863 – Observations on the anatomy and evolution of invertebrates from the coast of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. * ''Les annelides chétopodes du Golfe de Naples'', 1868 – On

Chaetopoda The annelids (Annelida , from Latin ', "little ring"), also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecol ...

annelids from the

Gulf of Naples The Gulf of Naples (), also called the Bay of Naples, is a roughly 15-kilometer-wide (9.3 mi) gulf located along the south-western coast of Italy (province of Naples, Campania region). It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea. It i ...

. * ''Recherches sur la structure des annélides sédentaires'', 1873 – Research on the structure of sedentary annelids.Most widely held works about René-Édouard Claparède
WorlCat Identities

References

''article on Claparede the protistologist''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claparede, Rene-Edouard 1832 births 1871 deaths People from the canton of Geneva University of Geneva faculty Swiss anatomists 19th-century Swiss zoologists Scientists from Geneva