Jean-Charles Jacobs was a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 doctor

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 and entomologist

Entomology

Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...

, a pupil of Constantin Wesmael

Constantin Wesmael

Constantin Wesmael was a Belgian entomologist, born on 4 October 1798 in Brussels. He died on 26 October 1872 near to Sint-Joost-ten-Node, close to Brussels.-Life:...

. He graduated in medicine from the University of Brussels

Université Libre de Bruxelles

The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...

, but never abandoned the study of insects, and was one of the founders of the Société entomologique de Belgique. He concentrated on the Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...

, often in collaboration with Jules Tosquinet, turning to Diptera

Fly

True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

 later in life . Among his later studies was a report on the insects collected by the Belgian expedition to the Antarctic

Antarctic

The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...

, including that continent's largest fully terrestrial animal, the fly Belgica antarctica

Belgica antarctica

Belgica antarctica is a species of flightless midge endemic to the continent of Antarctica. At 2–6 mm long, it is the largest purely terrestrial animal on the continent, as well as its only true insect. Its flightlessness may be an adaptation to prevent wind from blowing it into inhospitable sites...

 .