Édouard Chatton (; 11 October 1883 – 23 April 1947) was a French biologist who first characterized the distinction between the

prokaryotic A prokaryote () is a single-celled organism that lacks a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. The word ''prokaryote'' comes from the Greek πρό (, 'before') and κάρυον (, 'nut' or 'kernel').Campbell, N. "Biology:Concepts & Connec ...

and

eukaryotic Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...

cellular types. Chatton coined the terms and published them first in his 1937 paper ''"Pansporella perplex: Reflections on the Biology and Phylogeny of the Protozoa."'' Chatton was born in

Romont Romont (; frp, Remont ) is a municipality and capital of the district of Glâne in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. History Romont is first mentioned in 1177 as ''in Rotundo Monte''. In 1244 it was mentioned as ''Romont''. The municip ...

, Switzerland. His initial interest was in various human pathogenic

protozoa Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris. Histo ...

, members of the

Apicomplexa The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia) are a large phylum of parasitic alveolates. Most of them possess a unique form of organelle that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an apicoplast, and an apical complex structure. Th ...

and

Trypanosomatid Trypanosomatida is a group of kinetoplastid excavates distinguished by having only a single flagellum. The name is derived from the Greek ''trypano'' (borer) and ''soma'' (body) because of the corkscrew-like motion of some trypanosomatid species ...

s. He later expanded his studies to include marine protists, helping to contribute to the description of the dinoflagellate protists. 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 vacc ...

he met and became a mentor to André Michel Lwoff, future

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make o ...

Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according ...

. The two scientists remained associates until Chatton's death in 1947, in

Banyuls-sur-Mer Banyuls-sur-Mer (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It was first settled by Greeks starting in 400 BCE. Geography Location Banyuls-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the ar ...

, France.

References

External links

A timeline of Chatton's life
on Pasteur.fr 20th-century French zoologists Evolutionary biologists 1883 births 1947 deaths {{France-zoologist-stub