View source for Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire

{{Short description|French zoologist (1805–1861)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
| image             = Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.jpg
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = 16 December 1805
| birth_place       = [[Paris]], [[First French Empire|France]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1861|11|10|1805|12|16|df=y}}
| death_place       = Paris, [[Second French Empire|France]]
| residence         =
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = French
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = [[zoology|Zoologist]]
| work_institutions = 
| alma_mater        = 
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Teratology]], [[ethology]]
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = '''I. Geoffroy'''
| prizes            = 
| religion          = 
| footnotes         = 
| signature         =  
}}
'''Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire''' ({{IPA|fr|izidɔʁ ʒɔfʁwa sɛ̃t‿ilɛʁ}}; 16 December 1805 &ndash; 10 November 1861) was a French [[zoology|zoologist]] and an authority on deviation from normal structure. In 1854 he coined the term ''éthologie'' ([[ethology]]).<ref>[http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/histoire-de-l-ethologie-reperes-chronologiques/ Encyclopaedia Universalis] Histoire de l'éthologie</ref>

== Biography ==
[[File:Geoffroy St Hilaire.jpg|thumb|left|upright]]
He was born in Paris, the son of [[Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]]. In his earlier years he showed an aptitude for [[mathematics]], but eventually he devoted himself to the study of [[natural history]] and of medicine, and in 1824 he was appointed assistant naturalist to his father. In 1829 he delivered for his father the second part of a course of lectures on [[ornithology]], and during the following three years he taught zoology at the ''Athénée'', and teratology at the ''École pratique''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=619}}<ref>[http://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/sfhm/hsm/HSMx1990x024x002/HSMx1990x024x002x0111.pdf Biusante Paris Descarters.fr] Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire "Digne de son père" * (1805-1861) par Eric Salf</ref>

He was elected a member of the [[French Academy of Sciences]] in 1833, was in 1837 appointed to act as deputy for his father at the faculty of sciences in [[Paris]]. During the following year he was sent to [[Bordeaux]] to organize a similar faculty there. He became successively; inspector of the academy of Paris (1840), professor of the museum on the retirement of his father (1841), inspector-general of the university (1844), a member of the royal council for public instruction (1845), and on the death of [[Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville]], professor of zoology at the Faculty of Sciences (1850). In 1854 he founded the ''Société zoologique d'acclimatation'' ([[Acclimatisation society|Zoological Acclimatization Society]]), of which he also served as president.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=619}}<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FTUEAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Saint-Hilaire%22+%22Acclimatization+Society+of+Paris%22&pg=PA101 Google Books] Maple leaves: a budget of legendary, historical, critical, and sporting...  by Sir James MacPherson Le Moine</ref>

He conducted investigations of omphalosites, celosomia, [[hermaphroditism]], etc., and is credited with introducing the term ''teratologie''.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Morin A |title=La tératologie de Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire à nos jours |trans-title=Teratology from Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire to the present |language=French |journal=Bulletin de l'Association des Anatomistes |volume=80 |issue=248 |pages=17–31 |date=March 1996  |id={{INIST|2871815}} |pmid=9004867}}</ref><ref>[http://grotesque-observatory.blogspot.com/2012/03/birth-of-modern-teratology.html Cultural Teratology: The Monstrous and the Grotesque] The Birth of Modern Teratology</ref> From 1832 to 1837 he published his great [[teratogenesis|teratological]] work, [https://archive.org/details/Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire1832xs96J-c ''Histoire générale et particulière des anomalies de l’organisation chez l’homme et les animaux''].<ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/50400#/summary Biodiversity Heritage Library] Histoire générale et particulière des anomalies de l'organisation chez l'homme et les animaux</ref>

==Legacy==
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of turtle, ''[[Phrynops hilarii]]''.<ref>[[species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]]; [[species:Michael Watkins|Watkins, Michael]]; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (Hilaire, p. 123).</ref>

==Selected works==
Besides the above-mentioned work, he wrote:{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=619}}
* ''Histoire générale et particulière des anomalies de l’organisation chez l’homme et les animaux'' (1832-1837).
* ''Essais de zoologie générale'' (1841).
* ''La vie Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire'' (1847).
* ''Acclimatation et domestication des animaux utiles'' (1849). 
* ''Lettres sur les substances alimentaires et particulièrement sur la viande de cheval'' (1856).
* ''Histoire naturelle générale des règnes organiques'' (3 vols., 1854–1862), which was not quite completed. 
He was also the author of various papers on zoology, [[comparative anatomy]] and [[palaeontology]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=619}}

== See also ==
* [[List of Chairs of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore |volume=11 |page=619}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*{{Gutenberg author |id=33308| name=Isidore Geoffroy SaintHilaire}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire}}
*[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ Gallica] [[Gallica]] has digital versions of works by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.

{{Portal bar|France|Biology|Biography}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, Isidore}}
[[Category:French zoologists]]
[[Category:French taxonomists]]
[[Category:1805 births]]
[[Category:1861 deaths]]
[[Category:French ornithologists]]
[[Category:Teratologists]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Scientists from Paris]]
[[Category:19th-century French zoologists]]