Yves Delage (13 May 1854 – 7 October 1920) was a French

zoologist 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 ...

known for his work into

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

and

anatomy 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 ...

. He also discovered the function of the

semicircular canals The semicircular canals or semicircular ducts are three semicircular, interconnected tubes located in the innermost part of each ear, the inner ear. The three canals are the horizontal, superior and posterior semicircular canals. Structure The ...

in the inner ear. He is also famous for noting and preparing a speech on the

Turin Shroud The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...

, arguing in favour of its authenticity. Delage estimated the probability that the image on the shroud was not caused by the body of Jesus Christ as 1 in 10 billion.

Life

He was born in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

on 13 May 1854. He became the director of the Station Biologique de Roscoff in 1901. From 1902 he was Professor of Zoology at the

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...

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 ...

. Delage performed influential experiments on the fertilization of

sea urchin Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...

egg. Delage was a critic of

Darwinism Darwinism is a scientific theory, theory of Biology, biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of smal ...

. He argued for a version of

neo-Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

.Loison, Laurent. (2006). ''Yves Delage (1854-1920) et l’hétérogénéité du néolamarckisme français''. ''Bulletin d’Histoire et d’Épistémologie des Sciences de la Vie'' 13: 143-67.

Publications

* ''L’Appareil circulatoire des crustacés édriophalmes'' (1881) * ''Contribution à l'étude de l'appareil circulatoire des crustacés édriophthalmes marins'' (1881) * ''Évolution de la sacculine'' (1884) * ''Sur le système nerveux et sur quelques autres points de l'organisation du Peltogaster'' (1886) * ''Embryogénie des éponges'' (1892) * ''Faune de Cynthiadées de Roscoff et des côtes de Bretagne'' (1893) * ''L’Hérédité et les grands problèmes de la biologie générale'' (1895) * ''Traité de zoologie concrète'' (six volumes, 1896-1903

* ''La Nature des images hypnagogiques et le rôle des lueurs entoptiques dans le rêve'' (1903) * ''Les Théories de l’évolution'' (1909) * ''Comment pensent les bêtes'' (1911) * ''La Parthénogénèse naturelle et expérimentale'' (1913), with

Marie Goldsmith Maria Isidorovna Goldsmith (russian: Мария Исидоровна Гольдсмит; 1862–1933), also known as Marie Goldsmith, was a Russian Jewish anarchist and collaborator of Peter Kropotkin. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Maria ...

(secrétaire de L'Année biologique) ; chez Ernest Flammarion, 342 pages
''The Theories of Evolution''
(1913) * ''Le Mendélisme et le mécanisme cytologique de l'hérédité'' (1919) * ''Le Rêve'' (1920)

Notes

References

* * 1854 births 1920 deaths People from Avignon French zoologists Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Lamarckism Members of the French Academy of Sciences Researchers of the Shroud of Turin {{France-zoologist-stub