Belgium, Jean-Baptiste Carnoy, 1836-1899
Jean Baptiste Carnoy, Belgian priest and microbiologist. (5) In 1884, Carnoy wrote a book detailing Cellular Biology Comparative Study in the Two Kingdoms. Even the very start of the book has valuable information as it lays out a few basic facts about his situation. Carnoy was a teacher of botany and biology, with a doctorate in natural sciences at the Catholic University of Louvain. (5) He first came to the school in 1876 with the express intent of creating a microscope laboratory to study cell biology. He acknowledges the assistance given by the bishops over the years as he has, as of 1884, close to two hundred students, Belgian or foreign, eager to learn. (5)
Carnoy wanted systemic changes to the process of teaching, and a greater focus on cytology, the study of plant and animal cells. Carnoy’s desire was to, as fully as possible given the current state of science, study cytology in general. (5) Carnoy pointed out that, at the time, there were no courses on the subject of cellular biology, outside of Louvain,yet the esteemed Walther Flemming, founder of the field of cytology, believed all illnesses or biological functions would ultimately have to be traced back to the individual cells to be understood, thereby necessitating a good understanding of the inner workings of cells.(4, 5) Carnoy additionally argued that biology at the time was advancing against all logic because they tried to tackle the complex systems before understanding the basic systems, the cells. (5)
Furthermore, the study must be general enough to draw comparisons between animal and plant life for completeness as all cells have great similarities. Carnoy also explained the current methods for teaching cellular biology were far too heavily reliant on theory at the time and because the faculty were unwilling to adapt to the changing understanding of science, cytology would be stymied simply due to systemic flaws. Instead, he declared cytology could only be taught in labs with microscopes so the across to students could see the cell for themselves, feel the excitement of watching these processes unfold, not simply memorize information. (5)
Belgium, Frans Alfons Janssens, 1865-1924
While teaching at the university, Carnoy had a student named Frans Alfons Janssens who would go on to be his protegé. Janssens was also Belgian priest and went on to carry on Carnoy’s work after his death. (4) Janssens had a wide variety of knowledge, studying theology and creating a zoology thesis while studying with Carnoy. (4) After graduating from Louvain, Janssens visited France, Italy, and the Netherlands before returning to Belgium to teach at Louvain.(4)
One of his significant contributions to biology was in advancing Mendel’s theories. In 1909 he published a paper, The Theory of Chiasmatype, in discussing how the chromosomes combined in meiosis and mixed to give rise to the differences Mendel observed. (4) Actually, he had a draft completed in 1908 and dropped it off at the Belgian Royal Academy even though he was not a member.
The current theory believed that the parental and maternal chromosomes lined up at opposite sides of the cell and then divided on their own separate corners to account for the genetic mixing that was known to occur due to Mendel’s data.(4)
Furthermore, the theory was that divisions of the same chromosomes stayed together, though this failed to explain the grand diversity of traits. If all the chromosomes stayed in their own separate areas, there would be no way for the volume of diversity observed. (4)
In his research Janssens used a camera lucida, a device that allowed an artist to look at the paper and see the subject simultaneously, to capture sketches of the action.4 Among other things, he found the parental and maternal chromosomes were not simply contacting each other, but actually breaking apart and reassembling combined with each other. (4)
He was clearly excited at the time, hoping he had successfully described one of the secrets of meiosis, musing that “time will tell,” which it did. (4) Although his his findings were not greatly appreciated at the time, nowadays his findings are so thoroughly accepted they are simply part of biology taught at any school.
Works Referenced
- Album of a scientific world https://books.google.com/books?id=JcXzORDCmCcC&pg=PT34&lpg=PT34&dq\#v=onepage&q&f=false
- Carnoy, Jean Baptiste https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://archives.uclouvain.be/histoire-medecine/exhibits/show/professeurs/c/carnoy-jean-baptiste&prev=search
- The Centenary of Janssens’s Chiasmatype Theory https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3374303/
- Walther Flemming https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walther-Flemming
- Cellular Biology Comparative Study in the Two Kingdoms http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k486072j/f7.image.texteImage
No comments:
Post a Comment