Pierre-Paul Grassé
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Pierre-Paul Grassé (November 27, 1895 in
Périgueux Périgueux (, ; or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is also the seat of ...
(
Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...
) – July 9, 1985) was a French
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 ...
, writer of over 300 publications including the influential 52-volume '' Traité de Zoologie''. He was an expert on
termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...
s who rejected
Neo-Darwinism Neo-Darwinism is generally used to describe any integration of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection with Gregor Mendel's theory of genetics. It mostly refers to evolutionary theory from either 1895 (for the combinations of D ...
and was a proponent of Neo-Lamarckism.


Biography


Education

Grassé began his studies in Périgueux where his parents owned a small business. He went on to study
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
at the
University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (, ) is a public research university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Talence. There are al ...
and studied
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
in parallel, including the lectures of the entomologist Jean de Feytaud (1881–1973). Mobilized during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he was forced to interrupt his studies during four years. By the end of the war he was a military surgeon. Grassé continued his studies in Paris, focusing exclusively on science. He obtained his
Licence A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...
in Biology and frequented the laboratory of biologist Étienne Rabaud (1868–1956). He abandoned his preparations for the
agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...
to accept a position as professor in the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de
Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
(1921), where the department of zoology was led by François Picard (1879–1939). There he frequented several phytogeographers like Charles Flahault (1852–1935), Josias Braun-Blanquet (1884–1980), Georges Kuhnholtz-Lordat (1888–1965) and Marie Louis Emberger (1897–1969). He became the assistant of
Octave Duboscq Octave Joseph Duboscq (30 October 1868, Rouen – 18 February 1943, Nice) was a French zoologist, mycologist and parasitologist. He obtained doctorates in medicine (1894) and sciences (1899) at the University of Caen. From 1904 to 1923, he was cha ...
(1868–1943) who oriented the young Grassé toward the study of
protozoan Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...
parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...
s. After the departure of Duboscq to Paris, Grassé worked for Eugène Bataillon (1864–1953) and there discovered techniques for experimental embryology. In 1926, Grassé became vice-director of the École supérieure de sériciculture. He submitted his theses, ''Contribution à l'étude des flagellés parasites'', in 1926, and it was published in the ''Archives de zoologie expérimentale et générale''.


Teaching and research

In 1929, Grassé became professor of zoology at the Université de
Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...
. He supervised the theses of several students on
insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...
s. He conducted his first field research trip in Africa in 1933–1934, and returned there several times (1938–1939, 1945, 1948). During these trips he studied
termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...
s, and became one of the great specialists on these insects. In 1935, he became an assistant professor at the Université de Paris, where he worked alongside Germaine Cousin (1896–1992), and received the Prix Gadeau de Kerville de la Société entomologique de France for his work on
Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – gras ...
and termites. In 1939 he chaired the Société zoologique de France and in 1941 the Société entomologique de France. After having been briefly mobilized in
Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
, in 1944 he succeeded Maurice Caullery as chair in zoology and the evolution of beings. Grassé was elected a member of the
Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
on November 29, 1948, in the anatomy and zoology sector and presided over the institution in 1967. In 1976 he changed sectors, into the newly created animal and vegetal biology sector. Grassé received numerous honours and titles during his career: commander of the
Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
, doctor ''honoris causa'' of the universities of
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
,
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
,
Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
,
Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
,
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
,
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
and
São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
. He was one of the founders of the Société Française de Parasitologie in 1962. He was also a member of several academic societies, including the
New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...
and The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium.


Publications

Grassé began publishing a very big project in 1946 entitled '' Traité de zoologie''. The 38 volumes required almost forty years of work, uniting some of the greatest names in zoology. They are still essential references in the field for the groups that are treated in their pages. Ten volumes are dedicated to mammals, nine to insects. Apart from this treatise, he led two collections published by Masson: the first, entitled ''Grands problèmes de la biologie'', has thirteen volumes and the second is entitled ''Précis de sciences biologiques''. Alongside Andrée Tétry, he composed the two volumes dedicated to zoology in the collection '' Bibliothèque de la Pléiade'', published by Gallimard. He also supervised the edition of the ''Abrégé de zoologie'' (two volumes, Masson). He also composed the ''Termitologia'' (1982, 1983, 1984), a work in three volumes totalling over 2400 pages. In it Grassé compiles all available knowledge concerning termites. It was by studying symbiotic flagellates in termites that he eventually began studying their hosts. In this publication, Grassé introduced the concept of
Stigmergy Stigmergy ( ) is a mechanism of indirect :wikt:coordination, coordination, through the environment, between agents or actions. The principle is that the trace left in the natural environment, environment by an individual action stimulates the perf ...
: :"Stigmergy manifests itself in the termite mound by the fact that the individual labour of each construction worker stimulates and guides the work of its neighbour.". He also created three scientific reviews: ''Arvernia biologica'' (1932), ''Insectes sociaux'' (1953) et ''Biologia gabonica'' (1964). He participated in several reviews like the ''Annales des sciences naturelles'' and the ''Bulletin biologique de la France et de la Belgique''. Apart from his numerous scientific publications, he published several works popularising science such as ''La Vie des animaux'' ( Larousse, 1968). He also signed the articles "Évolution" and "Stigmergie" of the '' Encyclopædia Universalis''. Grassé also authored many works where he talks of his views on
evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
and
metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
such as ''Toi, ce petit Dieu'' (Albin Michel, 1971), ''L’Évolution du vivant, matériaux pour une nouvelle théorie transformiste'' (Albin Michel, 1973), ''La Défaite de l’amour ou le triomphe de Freud'' (Albin Michel, 1976), ''Biologie moléculaire, mutagenèse et évolution'' (Masson, 1978), ''L’Homme en accusation: de la biologie à la politique'' (Albin Michel, 1980)...


Neo-Lamarckism

Grassé was a supporter of the French tradition of
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 ...
. He occupied the chair of evolutionary biology of the Faculty of Paris, of which the two previous occupiers, Alfred Giard (1846–1908) and Maurice Caullery (1868–1958), were both also supporters of Lamarckism. Only after Grassé's retirement did the chair become occupied by a partisan of Darwinism, Charles Bocquet (1918–1977).Blanc, Marcel. (1990). ''Les Héritiers de Darwin. L’évolution en Mutation''. Seuil (Paris), collection ''Science'' ouverte: pp. 10-11, p. 238. In support of Lamarck's theories he organised an international congress in Paris in 1947 under the auspices of the
CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...
with the theme "paleontology and transformism". The records were published in 1950 by Albin Michel. He united many of the greatest French authorities on the question including
Lucien Cuénot Lucien Claude Marie Julien Cuénot (; 21 October 1866 – 7 January 1951) was a French biologist. In the first half of the 20th century, Mendelism was not a popular subject among French biologists. Cuénot defied popular opinion and shirked the ...
(1866–1951),
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (; 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit, Catholic priest, scientist, palaeontologist, theologian, and teacher. He was Darwinian and progressive in outlook and the author of several influential theologi ...
(1881–1955), and Maurice Caullery. They were all opponents to certain tenets of
neo-Darwinism Neo-Darwinism is generally used to describe any integration of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection with Gregor Mendel's theory of genetics. It mostly refers to evolutionary theory from either 1895 (for the combinations of D ...
. Other brilliant biologists present were John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (1892–1964) and
George Gaylord Simpson George Gaylord Simpson (June 16, 1902 – October 6, 1984) was an American paleontologist. Simpson was perhaps the most influential paleontologist of the twentieth century, and a major participant in the modern synthesis, contributing '' Tempo ...
(1902–1984). Grassé stated his support for Lamarck in other ways too, like an article in the '' Encyclopædia Universalis'', and by affirming that Lamarck had been unjustifiably slandered and ought to be rehabilitated. Some authors, like Marcel Blanc explain the strong support of
Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolo ...
by French biologists by giving simple patriotic reasons and the historical and social context: Catholic culture favoring support of Lamarckism whilst
Protestant culture Protestant culture refers to the cultural practices that have developed within Protestantism. Although the founding Protestant Reformation was a religious movement, it also had a strong impact on all other aspects of life: marriage and family, ed ...
favored support of Darwinism.


''Evolution of Living Organisms''

Grassé presents his arguments against
neo-Darwinism Neo-Darwinism is generally used to describe any integration of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection with Gregor Mendel's theory of genetics. It mostly refers to evolutionary theory from either 1895 (for the combinations of D ...
in his work ''L'évolution du vivant'' (1973), translated into English as ''Evolution of Living Organisms'' in 1977. Against the idea which states that the evolution of living things is the product of their adapting to changes in their environments, he opposes
living fossil A living fossil is a Deprecation, deprecated term for an extant taxon that phenotypically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of or ...
s, meaning species which stopped evolving at some point in time and have remained relatively identical to this day regardless of great climatic or geological changes (he cites numerous examples in ''Les formes panchroniques et les arrêts de l'évolution'', p. 133). Therefore, evolution is in his opinion a process which is not ''necessary'', it does not occur in living beings under the constraints of external physical forces (cf. ''Necessity-utility is not the primus movens of biological evolution'', p. 302). To explain evolution he instead thinks that you must look at the internal dynamics of living things. Biologist
Theodosius Dobzhansky Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky (; ; January 25, 1900 – December 18, 1975) was a Russian-born American geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He was a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the modern ...
wrote in a review that Grassé's belief that evolution is directed by some unknown mechanism does not explain anything. He concluded that "to reject what is known, and to appeal to some wonderful future discovery which may explain it all, is contrary to sound scientific method. The sentence with which Grassé ends his book is: "It is possible that in this domain biology, impotent, yields the floor to metaphysics." Colin Patterson reviewed ''Evolution of Living Organisms'' for the ''
New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...
'' stating that the book was a criticism of neo-Darwinism, with the opinion that paleontology is "the only true science of evolution". Patterson, a paleontologist, disputed this statement. He also noted that Grassé's own theory of neo-Lamarckism was "hard to disentangle, and there were other places where Grassé's reasoning was difficult to follow." According to Patterson the book did not mention
gene duplication Gene duplication (or chromosomal duplication or gene amplification) is a major mechanism through which new genetic material is generated during molecular evolution. It can be defined as any duplication of a region of DNA that contains a gene ...
, but this has been well-established in evolution. Geologist David B. Kitts negatively reviewed the book commenting that all of "Grassé's arguments have been marshaled against Darwinian theory before and, in the opinion of most Darwinians, have been adequately countered." Grassé stated that evolution was driven by an internal factor. Regarding the identification of this factor, Kitts quotes Grassé as saying "perhaps in this area of biology can go no further: the rest is metaphysics". Kitts found this statement unacceptable commenting that "the fundamental issues raised by Grassé's theory of evolution do not even belong to biology, but to some other discipline." Kitts, David B. (1979). ''Search for the Holy Transformation. Evolution of Living Organisms: Evidence for a New Theory of Transformation by Pierre-P. Grassé''. ''
Paleobiology Paleobiology (or palaeobiology) is an interdisciplinary field that combines the methods and findings found in both the earth sciences and the life sciences. An investigator in this field is known as a paleobiologist. Paleobiology is closely ...
''. Vol. 5, No. 3. pp. 353-355.


Selected publications

* 1935: ''Parasites et parasitisme'', Armand Collin (Paris) : 224 p.. * 1935: with Max Aron (1892–1974), ''Précis de biologie animale'', Masson (Paris) : viii + 1016 p. – second revised edition in 1939, third edition in 1947, fourth edition in 1948, fifth edition in 1957, sixth edition in 1962, eighth edition in 1966. * 1963: with A. Tétry, ''Zoologie'', two volumes, Gallimard (Paris), collection encyclopédie de la Pléiade: xx + 1244 p. et xvi + 1040 p. * 1971: ''Toi, ce petit dieu ! essai sur l'histoire naturelle de l'homme'', Albin Michel (Paris) : 288 p. * 1973: ''L'évolution du vivant, matériaux pour une nouvelle théorie transformiste'', Albin Michel (Paris) : 477 p. - (a criticism of
neo-Darwinism Neo-Darwinism is generally used to describe any integration of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection with Gregor Mendel's theory of genetics. It mostly refers to evolutionary theory from either 1895 (for the combinations of D ...
). Republished and translated into English in 1977 under the title ''Evolution of Living Organisms'' by
Academic Press Academic Press (AP) is an academic book publisher founded in 1941. It launched a British division in the 1950s. Academic Press was acquired by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1969. Reed Elsevier said in 2000 it would buy Harcourt, a deal complete ...
. * 1978: ''Biologie moléculaire, mutagenèse et évolution'', Masson (Paris) : 117 p.  * 1980: ''L'Homme en accusation : de la biologie à la politique'', Albin Michel (Paris) : 354 p.  * 1982-1986: ''Termitologia''. Vol. I: ''Anatomie Physilogie Reproduction'', 676 pp.; Vol. II: Fondation des Sociétés Construction, 613 pp.; Vol. III: Comportement Socialité Écologie Évolution Systématique, 715 pp. Paris: Masson.


References

* Jean Lhoste (1987). ''Les Entomologistes français. 1750-1950'', INRA Éditions et OPIE : 351 p. 44-247


External links


Stigmergy: Invisible Writing
Collective Intelligence in Social Insects in Introduction & Self-Organisation by David Gordon for the AI depot.
Stigmergic Collaboration: A Theoretical Framework for Mass Collaboration
by : Elliott, Dr Mark Alan (2007) PhD thesis, Centre for Ideas, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. The thesis explicitly refers to the work of Pierre-Paul Grassé to define stigmergy, chapter 3. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grasse, Pierre-Paul 1895 births 1985 deaths People from Périgueux Commanders of the Legion of Honour Lamarckism Members of the French Academy of Sciences Non-Darwinian evolution University of Bordeaux alumni Academic staff of the University of Paris 20th-century French zoologists French military personnel of World War I Presidents of the Société entomologique de France