Bernard, Claude

(1813-1878)

   physiologist

   Regarded as a founder of experimental medicine, Claude Bernard was born in Saint-Julien, Rhône. He received his early education in the humanities and only after 1834 enrolled in medical school. Bernard obtained a position at the collège de france, where he began his work in physiology. By the late 1840s, he had made several important discoveries in that field, including that of the role of the pancreas in digestion and of the liver in glucose transformation. He also explored the functions of the nervous system, discovering the purpose of the vasometer nerves that regulate the blood supply. He made other contributions to experimental physiology and was the first to propose the concept that came to be known as homeostasis. In 1854, he was given the newly created chair of physiology at the sorbonne and that same year was named to the Academy of Sciences. Considered a prominent scientist during his lifetime, Bernard, upon his death, was the first scientist in France to be given a public funeral. His writings include Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale (1865) and La Science expérimentale (1876). He was named to the Académie Française in 1868. Although considered important in his era, Bernard's methodology in particular is now considered dated.