Louis-Urbain-Eugène Léger

Background

Léger was born on September 7, 1866, in Loches, France, the son of Urbain-Louis Léger, a school-teacher, and Marie-Eugénie Tretois. He spent his childhood in Touraine.

Education

At the Faculty of Science of Poitiers Léger studied natural science, for which he received his licence, and, under the direction of Aimé Schneider, prepared his thesis for the doctorat-ès-sciences on the subject of the Gregarines (parasitic protozoans of invertebrates). He defended the thesis, for which he himself engraved the plates, in Paris on 27 February 1892 under the chairmanship of G. Bonnier. He was then appointed préparateur and then chef de travaux of zoology in Marion’s laboratory at the Faculty of Sciences at Marseilles. He completed his medical studies and in 1895 defended his doctoral thesis in medicine on the histology of senile arteries before the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier.

Career

In 1898 Léger was appointed deputy lecturer and in 1904 professor of zoology at the Faculty of Sciences in Grenoble. He was appointed to the same post at the School of Medicine in 1910 and remained in Grenoble until his death.

He was the recipient of many honors: twice laureate of the Institute (Prix Serres, 1920; Prix Petit d’Ormoy, 1933); corresponding member of the Academy of Agriculture (1927); corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences (1928); officer of the Legion of Honor (1929); member of the Masaryk Academy of Prague; and member of the Romanian Academy of Sciences.

Légers scientific output was considerable, comprising approximately 300 publications, which can be divided into two major groups: those on protistology and those on hydrobiology and pisciculture. In protistology Léger studied primarily parasitic species: Sporozoa (Gregarinida and Coccidia), Cnidosporidia, Flagellatae, and Ciliata. His researches on the Gregarinida, done for the most part in collaboration with O. Duboscq, yielded data concerning their morphology, cytology, sexuality, life cycle, and their effect on the host. The papers on Styhcephalus and Porospora have become classics. Furthermore, Léger was interested in the Trichomycetes, curious parasites of arthropods that possess plantlike characteristics.

Léger began his piscicultura! investigations in 1901. In 1909 he published a monograph on the fishes of Dauphiné, which was followed by numerous studies dealing with the physicochemical and biological factors of freshwaters and with the parasites and pathology of fishes. He also recommended attempts, which were successful, to introduce char in Alpine Lakes and rainbow trout in Madagascar.

Achievements

• Léger is best known for his contribution to zoology. His influence on his many pupils and his work in science give him a prominent place among French biologists of the first half of the twentieth century.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Recherches Sur Les Grégarines

    (French Edition)

    1892

Membership

• Corresponding member

  Academy of Agriculture , France

  1927

• Corresponding member

  Academy of Sciences , France

  1928

• Masaryk Academy of Prague , Czech Republic

• Romanian Academy of Sciences , Romania

Personality

At once a great researcher and a brilliant teacher, Léger was a cultivated artist - he was a watercolorist - and a direct and friendly man.

Connections

While at Marseilles, Léger was married to Juliette Baraton, by whom he had three sons: Jacques, Jean, and Louis.

Father:

Urbain-Louis Léger

Mother:

Marie-Eugénie Tretois

Spouse:

Juliette Baraton

Son:

Jacques Léger

Son:

Jean Léger

Son:

Louis Léger

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography Volume 7
  1973