Louis Charles Émile Lortet (22 August 1836 – 26 December 1909) was a French

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

who was a native of

Oullins Oullins () is a former Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in eastern France. It is a suburb of the city of Lyon, and is adjacent to it on the southwest. On 1 January 2024, Oul ...

. He earned his medical doctorate in 1861, and his degree in

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

s in 1867. He served as premier

doyen A doyen or doyenne (from the French language, French word ''wikt:doyen#French, doyen'', ''doyenne'' in the feminine grammatical gender) is the senior ambassador by length of service in a particular country. In the English language, the meaning ...

at the Faculty of Medicine of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

from 1877 until 1906. Also, from 1868 to 1909, he was director of the

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

museum in Lyon. Lortet is remembered for his scientific and zoological expeditions to the Middle East (

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

). He performed studies of

mummified A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furthe ...

animals from the

New Kingdom New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

, and in 1880 took part in an excavation of a

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

. Lortet was a member of numerous scientific societies, such as the ''Société de géographie de Lyon'', being a founding member in 1858. Species with the epithet of ''lorteti'' are named in his honor; an example being the

pufferfish Tetraodontidae is a family of marine and freshwater fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowers, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...

species ''Carinotetraodon lorteti''.

Family

His Grandmother

Clémence Lortet Clémence Lortet (17 September 1772 – 15 April 1835) (née Richard) was a French botanist and naturalist. In 1823, she became an associate of the Linnean Society of Paris, and with Giovanni Balbis and others, co-founded the Linnean Society of ...

(17 September 1772 – 15 April 1835) was a French botanist and naturalist.

Written works

* ''Faune momifiée de l'ancienne Égypte'' (Mummified fauna of Ancient Egypt) * ''La vérité (Nécropole de Khozan)'' (The truth;

Necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

of Khozan) * ''Recherches sur la vitesse du cours du sang dans les artères du cheval au moyen d’un nouvel hémadromographe'' (Research on the velocity of blood in the arteries of a horse by means of a new hemadromograph) (1867) * ''La Syrie d'aujourd'hui. Voyages dans La Phénicie, Le Liban et La Judée'' (Syria of today. Voyages in Phoenecia, Lebanon and

Judaea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the prese ...

. 1875–1880 (1881) * ''Note sur le Rhizoprion bariensis de Jourdan'', (Article on ''Rhizoprion bariensis'' of

Jourdan Jourdan may refer to: *Adolphe Jourdan, French painter (1825-1889) *Camila Jourdan, Brazilian philosopher *Carolyn Jourdan, American author *Claude Jourdan (1803–1873), French zoologist and paleontologist *David W. Jourdan, businessman *Jean-Bapt ...

) * ''Passage des leucocytes a travers les membranes organiques'' (Passage of

leucocytes White blood cells (scientific name leukocytes), also called immune cells or immunocytes, are cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign entities. White blood cells are genera ...

through the organic membranes) (1867) * ''Recherche sur les mastodontes et les faunas mammalogiques qui les accompagnent'' (Research of

mastodon A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...

s and associated

megafauna In zoology, megafauna (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and Neo-Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common threshold is approximately , this lower en ...

) (1878) * ''Poissons et reptiles du Lac de Tibériade et de quelques autres parties de la Syrie'' (1883) * ''Les reptiles fossiles du bassin du Rhône'' ( Reptilian fossils of the Rhone basin) (1892)

Tribute

For the fish known as both ''

Luciobarbus lorteti ''Luciobarbus'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes in the family Cyprinidae. Its members are found in fresh and brackish waters of southern Europe, northern Africa, the wider Near East, the Aral and Caspian Seas, and rivers associated with these. Se ...

'' and '' Barbus lorteti'' although the patronym is not identified, probably in honor of Lortet.

References

* "This article incorporates text based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia () is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

".
Forum: L'Orient des Lyonnais

Jardin Botanique de Lyon
The Roffavier/Lortet Herbarium {{DEFAULTSORT:Lortet, Louis Charles Emile 1836 births 1909 deaths People from Oullins Academic staff of the University of Lyon French zoologists French archaeologists

Family

Written works

Tribute

See also

References