The Société de biologie is a

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership m ...

founded in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

in 1848. The society was conceived during the French Revolution of 1848. The members of the society held regular meetings and published the proceedings in a new scientific journal. The founding members of the society included

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 ...

, the naturalist Charles-Philippe Robin, and the surgeon Eugène Follin. Its first president was the doctor and

dermatologist Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medica ...

Pierre Rayer. Bernard was unanimously elected president of the society in 1867 upon Rayer's death. Historian Mirko Grmek said the society brought together the best physiologists and naturalists in Paris, and that Bernard regularly attended the weekly meetings. During 1849 he spoke at nearly all the sessions. Of the 227 scientific articles published by Bernard from 1848 onwards, 79 of them were published in the ''Comptes-rendus et Mémoires de la Société de Biologie''.

Marcellin Berthelot Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot (; 25 October 1827 – 18 March 1907) was a French chemist and Republican politician noted for the ThomsenBerthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substa ...

considered Bernard the "star and favourite" of the society.

References

Learned societies of France 1848 establishments in France {{France-org-stub