Félix Vicq-d'Azyr

Félix Vicq-d'Azyr (b. Valognes, Normandy, France, April 23, 1746; d. June 20, 1794, French physician and anatomist, the originator of comparative anatomy and discoverer of the theory of homology in biology.

Related Topics:
Valognes - Normandy - France - April 23 - 1746 - June 20 - 1794 - Physician - Anatomist - Comparative anatomy - Homology - Biology

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The son of a Norman physician, Vicq-d'Azyr graduated in medicine at the University of Paris and became a renowned and brilliant animal and human anatomist and physician

Related Topics:
Norman - University of Paris

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Vicq-d'Azyr taught a celebrated course of anatomy since 1773 in Paris. In 1774 he was elected a member of the Académie des Sciences, and in 1775 he was nominated perpetual secretary of the Société Royale de Médecine. In the later capacity, he was in charge of writing the eulogies of his colleagues, which he made with a great talent, thus obtaining a lifetime membership to the French Academy in 1788. He also compiled along 16 years a great number and variety of information about diseases, physicians, economic and food resources, etc.

Related Topics:
Anatomy - Paris - Académie des Sciences - Société Royale de Médecine - Eulogies - French Academy

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He was also a professor of veterinary medicine at the School of Alfort and a principal physician to Marie-Antoinette, the Queen of France, in 1789, as well as superintendent of epidemies.

Related Topics:
Veterinary medicine - Alfort - Marie-Antoinette - Epidemies

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As an anatomist he was also one of the first to use coronal sections of the brain and to use alcohol in order to facilitate dissection. He described the locus coeruleus in the brain, in 1786, and the band of Vicq d'Azyr, a fiber system between the external granular layer and the external pyramidal layer of the cerebral cortex, as well as the mamillo-thalamic tract, which bears his name. His studies of the cerebral convolutions systematically became a classic and Vicq-d'Azyr was one of the first neuroanatomist to identify the gyri with names. He studied the deep gray nuclei of the cerebrum and the basal ganglia.

Related Topics:
Alcohol - Dissection - Locus coeruleus - Brain - 1786 - Band of Vicq d'Azyr - Cerebral cortex - Mamillo-thalamic tract - Cerebral convolution - Cerebrum - Basal ganglia

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Vicq d'Azyr died of tuberculosis on June 20th, 1794.

Related Topics:
Tuberculosis - June 20th - 1794

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