Léon Jean Marie Dufour
Encyclopedia
Saint-Sever
Saint-Sever is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France.-History and geography:Saint-Sever stands on an eminence...
– 18 April 1865 also at Saint-Sever) was a French medical doctor and naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
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Between 1799 and 1806 he studied medicine in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
then returned to Saint-Sever in the Landes
He participated as an army doctor in the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
. The war over, he returned to his birthplace.
During his life he published, 232 articles on arthropods ( 20 on spiders ) and was the author of Recherches anatomiques sur les Carabiques et sur plusieurs autres Coléoptères (1824-1826, Paris). Dufour's gland is named after him.
In 1854, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...
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