Corentin Louis Kervran
Encyclopedia
Corentin Louis Kervran was a French scientist best known for his defense of the unconventional belief in biological transmutation
. In WWII he was part of the French Resistance
. He was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences
, Director of Conferences of the Paris University, Member of Conseil d'Hygiene de la Seine, a Member of the Commission du Conseil Supérieur de la Recherche Scientifique (1966). He was the recognised expert on radiation poisoning
for the French government since 1945. His use of the word transmutation
led his scientific work to be associated with alchemy
and alienated him from the majority of mainstream scientific community. The most readable English introduction to his work can be found inThe Secret Life of Plants
in a chapter called "Alchemists in the garden".
To support his claims of biological transmutation
, Louis Kervran cited several dubious statistics as well as conducted his own experiments. It had been observed that Sahara
oilfield workers excreted a daily average of 320 mg more calcium
than they ingested without bone decalcification
occurring. Some strange cases of industrial accidents (1955) showing CO poisoning when no CO was inhaled led Kervran to postulate the dissociation of a nitrogen
molecule into carbon monoxide through the displacement of a proton at low energy. At January in 1961, he had reported this working hypothesis to Conseil d'Hygiene de la Seine and the digestive report had been published in L'usine nouvelle in 1961. His first treatise concerning to Transmutation-theory is titled "Bilan metaboliques anormaux et transmutations biologiques", which had been published in Revue generale des sciences.
There are a few examples of his work being corroborated. In 1978 a report was issued by the U.S. Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Command proposing Magnesium
adenosine triphosphate
, located in the mitochondrion
of the cell, provided the energy for the effects observed by Kervran and Komaki. "It was concluded that elemental transmutations were indeed occurring in life organisms and were probably accompanied by net energy gain". However this work was never followed up, and lies well outside mainstream scientific understanding of biology.
formation. As a youth Kervran had read a reference to Louis Nicolas Vauquelin
's observations on the formation of eggshell in Gustave Flaubert
's "Bouvard et Pécuchet". Kervran later succeeded in finding Vauquelin's original text on the apparent anomalous increase in calcium in a chicken whose diet is limited to potassium
-rich oats
. How did it continue to produce eggs with calcareous shells on a calcium
poor diet on a soil entirely lacking in limestone
?
Contemporary biochemist believed that chickens fed on the calcium reserve of their skeletons to produce eggs. Kervran did not accept this since chickens deprived of calcium laid soft-shelled egg until they ingested the potassium
-rich oats
, at which point they laid calcareous hard-shelled eggs. Kervran did not consider how the potassium could contribute to other chemical based biological pathways that lead to shell hardening.
In response to Kervran ideas Nuclear scientists stated if the chickens were to turn potassium into calcium at the rate of several grams a day, the released nuclear fusion
energy
of the order of 8 MeV would have turned them into atom bombs. Kervran rationalized this discrepancy by believing that the transformation of potassium into calcium (transmutation) happened at low energy. This became Kervran's thesis on which he staked his career. He developed a different model of low-energy transmutation that he called "frittage".
The scientists who collaborated with Kervran on many of his specialized experiments gradually referred to the thesis of transmutation at low energy as the "Kervran effect".
or pseudoscience
although he received the Ig Nobel Prize
for Physics in 1993.
Mainstream biology finds no anomalies in the nutrient uptake and release of hens, plants, or any other organism. All biological functions can be explained through chemical diffusion
and chemical reaction
s requiring no nuclear reaction
s. Kervran's claim that N2 was converted to CO does not consider the vast chemical pathways that can convert oxygen and carbon containing molecules into CO, or that the oil field works nutrient diet may have been misreported or mis-measured.
While scraping the sweat off oil workers certainly leaves room for measurement errors, the usual dismissals of Kervran's work that gratuitously asserts that chemists and medical doctors are incompetent are not acceptable. For example, the iron and steel industry supported some rather elaborate tests in England, Germany and Europe all of which showed carbon monoxide in the blood of welders but none in the air. Thus, it's a true mystery.
However, there does not appear to be any evidence to suggest that Kervran's transmutations are the only or even the most fitting solution to the puzzle of CO poisoning. Obviously this situation is far too complex to be used as any proof of biological transmutations. Other experiments where Lavoisier's law is apparently violated are more suggestive, but given the assertion that these experiments must be performed on living subjects, the creation of an experiment that could give definitive proof of such a violation is exceptionally difficult.
The greatest problem with Kervran's theories is that the basic atomic reactions have never been observed in physics. To be sure, today, transmutations of elements are scientifically accepted as real and proved, but energies required to produce them are beyond biological levels in the extreme. Kervran's response suggesting neutral currents as sources and sinks of this energy remains to be shown. Basically until physics can demonstrate that low energy transmutations with neutrino beams or similar particles actually can take place between the single atoms in question, there will be doubt regarding biological transmutations. If a reaction cannot be demonstrated in a microscopic sense, then the biological macroscopic measurements will always be questioned.
Books in English:
Papers
Biological transmutation
A biological transmutation is defined as a nuclear transmutation occurring in a living organism. Such transmutations are strongly believed not to occur according to mainstream physics, chemistry and biology, however proponents of the hypothesis claim to have empirical evidence that they...
. In WWII he was part of the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
. He was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences
New York Academy of Sciences
The New York Academy of Sciences is the third oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, non-profit organization with more than members in 140 countries, the Academy’s mission is to advance understanding of science and technology...
, Director of Conferences of the Paris University, Member of Conseil d'Hygiene de la Seine, a Member of the Commission du Conseil Supérieur de la Recherche Scientifique (1966). He was the recognised expert on radiation poisoning
Radiation poisoning
Acute radiation syndrome also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a constellation of health effects which occur within several months of exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation...
for the French government since 1945. His use of the word transmutation
Nuclear transmutation
Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one chemical element or isotope into another. In other words, atoms of one element can be changed into atoms of other element by 'transmutation'...
led his scientific work to be associated with alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
and alienated him from the majority of mainstream scientific community. The most readable English introduction to his work can be found inThe Secret Life of Plants
The Secret Life of Plants
The Secret Life of Plants is a book by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, described as "A fascinating account of the physical, emotional, and spiritual relations between plants and man."...
in a chapter called "Alchemists in the garden".
To support his claims of biological transmutation
Biological transmutation
A biological transmutation is defined as a nuclear transmutation occurring in a living organism. Such transmutations are strongly believed not to occur according to mainstream physics, chemistry and biology, however proponents of the hypothesis claim to have empirical evidence that they...
, Louis Kervran cited several dubious statistics as well as conducted his own experiments. It had been observed that Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
oilfield workers excreted a daily average of 320 mg more calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
than they ingested without bone decalcification
Bone decalcification
Bone decalcification is the removal of calcium ions from the bone through histological process thereby making the bone flexible and easy for pathological investigation....
occurring. Some strange cases of industrial accidents (1955) showing CO poisoning when no CO was inhaled led Kervran to postulate the dissociation of a nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
molecule into carbon monoxide through the displacement of a proton at low energy. At January in 1961, he had reported this working hypothesis to Conseil d'Hygiene de la Seine and the digestive report had been published in L'usine nouvelle in 1961. His first treatise concerning to Transmutation-theory is titled "Bilan metaboliques anormaux et transmutations biologiques", which had been published in Revue generale des sciences.
There are a few examples of his work being corroborated. In 1978 a report was issued by the U.S. Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Command proposing Magnesium
Magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, and common oxidation number +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and ninth in the known universe as a whole...
adenosine triphosphate
Adenosine triphosphate
Adenosine-5'-triphosphate is a multifunctional nucleoside triphosphate used in cells as a coenzyme. It is often called the "molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer. ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism...
, located in the mitochondrion
Mitochondrion
In cell biology, a mitochondrion is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. These organelles range from 0.5 to 1.0 micrometers in diameter...
of the cell, provided the energy for the effects observed by Kervran and Komaki. "It was concluded that elemental transmutations were indeed occurring in life organisms and were probably accompanied by net energy gain". However this work was never followed up, and lies well outside mainstream scientific understanding of biology.
Calcium anomalies in chicken eggshells
Kervran initiated his fascination for science with the apparent enigma of eggshellEggshell
An eggshell is the outer covering of a hard-shelled egg and of some forms of eggs with soft outer coats.- Insect eggs :Insects and other arthropods lay a variety of styles and shapes of eggs. Some have gelatinous or skin-like coverings, others have hard eggshells. Softer shells are mostly protein....
formation. As a youth Kervran had read a reference to Louis Nicolas Vauquelin
Louis Nicolas Vauquelin
Nicolas Louis Vauquelin , was a French pharmacist and chemist.-Early life:Vauquelin was born at Saint-André-d'Hébertot in Normandy, France. His first acquaintance with chemistry was gained as laboratory assistant to an apothecary in Rouen , and after various vicissitudes he obtained an introduction...
's observations on the formation of eggshell in Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary , and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style.-Early life and education:Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen,...
's "Bouvard et Pécuchet". Kervran later succeeded in finding Vauquelin's original text on the apparent anomalous increase in calcium in a chicken whose diet is limited to potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
-rich oats
OATS
OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...
. How did it continue to produce eggs with calcareous shells on a calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
poor diet on a soil entirely lacking in limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
?
Contemporary biochemist believed that chickens fed on the calcium reserve of their skeletons to produce eggs. Kervran did not accept this since chickens deprived of calcium laid soft-shelled egg until they ingested the potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
-rich oats
OATS
OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...
, at which point they laid calcareous hard-shelled eggs. Kervran did not consider how the potassium could contribute to other chemical based biological pathways that lead to shell hardening.
In response to Kervran ideas Nuclear scientists stated if the chickens were to turn potassium into calcium at the rate of several grams a day, the released nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
of the order of 8 MeV would have turned them into atom bombs. Kervran rationalized this discrepancy by believing that the transformation of potassium into calcium (transmutation) happened at low energy. This became Kervran's thesis on which he staked his career. He developed a different model of low-energy transmutation that he called "frittage".
The scientists who collaborated with Kervran on many of his specialized experiments gradually referred to the thesis of transmutation at low energy as the "Kervran effect".
Criticism
Kervran was largely ignored by the scientific community with scarce literature citation and no effect on mainstream models of biology. Neither is he well known for promoting a pathological sciencePathological science
Pathological science is the process in science in which "people are tricked into false results ... by subjective effects, wishful thinking or threshold interactions". The term was first used by Irving Langmuir, Nobel Prize-winning chemist, during a 1953 colloquium at the Knolls Research Laboratory...
or pseudoscience
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
although he received the Ig Nobel Prize
Ig Nobel Prize
The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think"...
for Physics in 1993.
Mainstream biology finds no anomalies in the nutrient uptake and release of hens, plants, or any other organism. All biological functions can be explained through chemical diffusion
Diffusion
Molecular diffusion, often called simply diffusion, is the thermal motion of all particles at temperatures above absolute zero. The rate of this movement is a function of temperature, viscosity of the fluid and the size of the particles...
and chemical reaction
Chemical reaction
A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...
s requiring no nuclear reaction
Nuclear reaction
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, a nuclear reaction is semantically considered to be the process in which two nuclei, or else a nucleus of an atom and a subatomic particle from outside the atom, collide to produce products different from the initial particles...
s. Kervran's claim that N2 was converted to CO does not consider the vast chemical pathways that can convert oxygen and carbon containing molecules into CO, or that the oil field works nutrient diet may have been misreported or mis-measured.
While scraping the sweat off oil workers certainly leaves room for measurement errors, the usual dismissals of Kervran's work that gratuitously asserts that chemists and medical doctors are incompetent are not acceptable. For example, the iron and steel industry supported some rather elaborate tests in England, Germany and Europe all of which showed carbon monoxide in the blood of welders but none in the air. Thus, it's a true mystery.
However, there does not appear to be any evidence to suggest that Kervran's transmutations are the only or even the most fitting solution to the puzzle of CO poisoning. Obviously this situation is far too complex to be used as any proof of biological transmutations. Other experiments where Lavoisier's law is apparently violated are more suggestive, but given the assertion that these experiments must be performed on living subjects, the creation of an experiment that could give definitive proof of such a violation is exceptionally difficult.
The greatest problem with Kervran's theories is that the basic atomic reactions have never been observed in physics. To be sure, today, transmutations of elements are scientifically accepted as real and proved, but energies required to produce them are beyond biological levels in the extreme. Kervran's response suggesting neutral currents as sources and sinks of this energy remains to be shown. Basically until physics can demonstrate that low energy transmutations with neutrino beams or similar particles actually can take place between the single atoms in question, there will be doubt regarding biological transmutations. If a reaction cannot be demonstrated in a microscopic sense, then the biological macroscopic measurements will always be questioned.
Selected works
Books- Transmutations Biologiques: Métabolismes Aberrants de l'Azote, le Potassium et le Magnésium (1962) Paris : Librairie Maloine S.A. (2nd ed. 1963, 3rd ed. 1965)
- Transmutations naturelles non radioactives ; une propriete nouvelle de la matiere Paris : Librairie Maloine, (1963)
- Transmutations à la faible énergie : synthèse et développements (1964) Paris : Maloine
- A la découverte des transmutations biologiques : une explication des phénomènes biologiques aberrants (1966) Paris : Le Courrier du livre
- Preuves Relatives à l'Existence des Transmutations Biologiques (1968) Paris : Librairie Maloine S.A.
- Transmutations biologiques en agronomie (1970) Paris : Librairie Maloine S.A.
- Preuves en géologie et physique de transmutations à faible énergie (1973) Paris : Maloine ISBN 2224000537
- Preuves en biologie de transmutations à faible énergie (1975) Paris, Maloine, S.A. ISBN 2224001789 , (2nd edition, 1995).
- Transmutations Biologique et Physique Moderne (1982) Paris : Librairie Maloine S.A.
Books in English:
- Biological Transmutations C. Louis Kervran, translation and adaptation by Michel Abehsera, 1989, 1998 (first published in 1972) ISBN 0-916508-47-1 (extract of three of Kervran's books)
- Biological transmutations, revised and edited by Herbert & Elizabeth Rosenauer, London, Crosby Lockwood 1972 (reprinted by Beekman, New York, in 1998 under ISBN 0-8464-0195-9)
- Biological Transmutation. Natural Alchemy. Louis Kervran and George Ohsawa, George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation, Oroville, California, USA 1971 (reprinted 1975, 1976) 48 pages.
Papers
- Bilans Metaboliques Anormaux et transmutations biologiques, Revue Generale des Sciences Vol. 67 (1960) July-August 1960, pp. 193-206.
- Les intoxications par l'oxyde de carbone dans les ateliers de soudure ou de traitement thermique des metaux, L'usine Nouvelle, 1961.
- Matiere vivante et transmutation, Planete No. 4,1962.
- Un effet accélérateur du magnésium sur l'accroissement du phosphore et du calcium chez l'animal, Comptes Rendus de l'académie d'agriculture de France, séance du 13 Déc 1967
- Bilans non nuls du calcium, du phosphore et du cuivre chez le homard, Revue de pathologique comparée 1969
- Augmentation du calcium et du phosphore chez l'animal par une surcharge alimentaire en magnésium, Revue de pathologique comparée 1969
- Increase in phosphorus and copper in the lobster after moulding, The Journal of the Soil Association Vol. 16 (1970) p. 21
- Bilans du calcium, du phosphore et du cuivré chez un animal en milieu fermé enrichi en magnesium, Comptes Rendus de l'académie d'agriculture de France, séance du 25 fevrier 1970 pp. 671-678 (as part of "Additif au compte Rendu de la séance du 25 fevrier 1970", pp. 670-689.
- Altérations métamorphiques de certaines roches applications a des mineraux alumino-siliceux notamment, Comm. 1er Congr. intern. sur la détérior des pierres en oeuvre 1972
- A propos de l'agriculture biologique, Bulletin intérieur de l'I.N.R.A. No 74, 1973
- Chimie et Synthese, Agriculture et Vie No 101, 1974
- Geen leven zonder kosmische energie, (translated into Dutch by Engels, H.) [from:] Natura docet, Nederlandse Tijdschrift voor Natuurgeneeskunde 27 (3): 81-85 (1976)
- Transmutations a faible énergie en biologie (Réponse), Rivista di Biologia (Perugia) Vol. 73 (1980) pp. 574-583.
Further reading
- Corentin Louis Kervran: "Hors-d'œuvre", an autobiographical note in Preuves en Biologie de Transmutations a Faible Energie Paris: Maloine S.A., 1975