Biography

Born on July 27 1916 in Strasbourg, father a pharmacist. Died in February 1991.

Education and professional career

  • Secondary studies in Saint-Cloud, Belfort then Strasbourg for the baccalauréat and entrance exam to the École normale supérieure
  • 1938-1939 : " Diplôme d'Études " in the laboratory of Robert Courrier, who had just been appointed to the Collège de France, and involved him in his research on the endocrinology of gestation.
  • 1941 : After a year in the Army, he prepares for the agrégation in Natural Sciences at the ENS, then returns to the Laboratory
  • 1945-1949 : Assistant Director of the General Physiology Laboratory at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
  • 1949 : Senior Lecturer in Animal Biology
  • 1956-1973 : Professor of Comparative Physiology at the Paris Faculty of Science
  • 1965 : Grand Prix scientifique de la ville de Paris
  • 1973 : Prize of the New York Academy of Medicine
  • 1974 : Professor of Developmental Physiology at the Collège de France

Awards and distinctions

  • Officer of the Legion of Honor and National Merit
  • Member of the French Academy of Sciences
  • 1948, 1956, 1964 : Prix de l'Académie des Sciences
  • 1958 : Honorary doctorate from the University of Bayonne

Research

Action on the fetus of natural or synthetic androgens given to the mother, in particular the first synthetic progestin (pregneninolone). The conclusion that the use of this substance by pregnant women was dangerous for the fetus (Courrier and Jost, 1942), was unfortunately verified in the United States in 1958 (example of expected drug-induced teratogenesis).

Analysis of the mechanism of sexual differentiation and fetal endocrinology, thanks to the development of a surgical technique on the intrauterine rabbit fetus (1946-1947). This enabled experimental exploration of fetal endocrinology : castration to recognize the role of genital glands in sex differentiation, decapitation of the fetus to perform hypophysectomy (1947), thyroidectomy (1955), encephalectomy (1966) to analyze pituitary function in the absence of a hypothalamus.

In 1950, the discovery of the testicles' essential role in sex differentiation, imposing masculinity against a constitutive feminine program, laid the foundations for the interpretation of various human sexual anomalies. This was to be complemented by the study of testicular differentiation. This experimental study at cellular level is currently underway.