Background

Antoine-Fortuné Marion was born on October 10, 1846, in Aix-en-provence, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France to a family of modest means.

Education

Antoine-Fortuné Marion attended the Saint Joseph Catholic School at Aix-en-Provence, where he was a schoolfriend of Paul Cézanne and a classmate of the novelist Émile Zola. His intelligence and inclination toward the natural sciences attracted the attention of Henri Coquand, professor of geology at the Faculté des Sciences of Marseilles, who had him appointed an assistant in natural history in 1862, a few days before he received his baccalauréat ès lettres and two years before his baccalauréat ès sciences. In 1868 he earned his licence ès sciences naturelles, and in 1970 he protected his doctoral thesis.

Career

In 1858 Marion had presented to the Marquis Gaston de Saporta a fossil leaf of Magnolia, a new variety, which he had discovered in the gypsum of Aix. This incident marked the beginning of a long collaboration and friendship, which remained, according to Saporta, “free from any disturbance or element of discord.”

Marion’s first publications (1867), which dealt with geology and paleontology, were followed by memoirs on plant paleontology published either alone or in collaboration with Saporta. Marion continued to publish works in this field until 1888, interspersing them with others on zoology, embryology, and marine biology. One of the most noteworthy is L’évolution du règne végétal, in three volumes (1881–1885). This synthesis, long a classic in the field, is not, properly speaking, a theoretical work but an attempt to apply transformist ideas to the history of plant life.

In 1871 as chargé de cours Marion gave a free course on the geology of Provence at the Faculté des Sciences of Marseilles. From October 1871 to November 1872 he took over the teaching of the natural sciences at the lycée of Marseilles. The Faculty of Sciences nominated him to fill the chair of geology left vacant by the death of Lespès - which, if Marion had obtained it, would have given his career a very different pattern. In 1872 he gave a course (cours complémentaire) on zoology for the école Pratique des Hautes études and directed a laboratory of marine zoology established in the Allée de Meilhan, where the Faculté des Sciences had been. Numerous French and foreign researchers soon came to the laboratory, including Bobretsky, Weismann, Otto Schmidt, and especially Alexandre Kovalevski, with whom Marion became quite friendly; he was also visited by Alexander Agassiz.

In 1876 a chair of zoology was established at Marseilles; Marion had to wait until he was thirty to assume it. This post helped him to gain acceptance for his plan to build a large marine laboratory on the coast at Endoume, a project initiated in 1878 with the support of the city of Marseilles. A source of hardship and disappointment for Marion, the project was finally accomplished after the city council of Marseilles at long last approved the necessary legislation on 16 December 1887.

In 1880 Marion succeeded the botanist E. M. Heckel as director of the Museum of Natural History of Marseilles. In 1883 he founded the museum’s Annales, which until his death were subtitled Travaux du Laboratoire de zoologie marine. Indeed, Marion considered this publication to be essentially the organ of the laboratory; his wish was to coordinate the activities of the laboratory of marine zoology, the Endoume station, and the museum. In his goal of enriching the Marseilles museum with regional collections, he amassed most of the material in the Salle de Provence. In 1887 he was elected a corresponding member of the Institut de France.

Achievements

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  Antoine-Fortuné Marion managed to become an important figure in the scientific community of Southern France. In 1869 he shared the Bordin Prize of the Academy of Sciences for his “Recherches anatomiques et zoologiques sur des nématoïdes non parasites marins.”

Works

More photos

• book

  • Annales du Musée d'Histoire Naturelle de Marseille, Publiées aux Frais de la Ville, 1883, Vol. 1: Zoologie; Travaux du Laboratoire de Zoologie Marine 1883
  • Recherches Zoologiques Et Anatomiques sur des Nématoides Non Parasites, Marins 1870
  • L'évolution Du Règne Végétal: Les Cryptogames 1881
  • L'évolution Du Règne Végétal: Les Phanérogames 1885
  • Essai Sur L'Etat De La Vegetation: A L'Epoque Des Marnes Heersiennes De Gelinden 1873
  • Esquisse D'une Topographie Zoologique Du Golfe De Marseille 1883
  • Annales Du Musée D'histoire Naturelle De Marseille, Volumes 6-8 1886
  • Premieres Observations Sur L'Anciennete De L'Homme Dans Les Bouches-Du-Rhone 1867

Views

Marion constantly sought practical applications of marine zoology. He was ahead of his time in advocating the establishment of “maritime fields” where marine animals could be raised, studied, and experimented on in isolated reserves.

Membership

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  French Academy of Sciences , France

Personality

Antoine-Fortuné Marion was a man of seductive charm and simplicity, of extremely varied talents and an open mind, and an exceptional teacher. Although not cautious about his health, he dreaded long trips; before leaving for Russia, he wondered whether he would return, lamenting his “rather prematurely impaired health” (unpublished letter to Lacaze-Duthiers). Deeply grieved by the sudden death of his only daughter, he died a few months later.

Connections

Antoine-Fortuné Marion had a daughter Marie Virginie Marion who died before him.

classmate:

Émile Zola

Daughter:

Marie Virginie Marion

Friend:

Paul Cézanne

Friend:

Gaston de Saporta

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography: Volumes 9 & 10
  1980