Claude Bernard (Bernard Claude)

(1813-1878)
Born July 12, 1813 in Saint-Julien. In 1834 he entered the Paris medical school, graduating as an external student in 1836. In 1839 he graduated from the Medical Faculty of the College de France, from 1841 worked as an assistant in the laboratory of F. Magendie. In 1843 received a doctorate in medicine for his work on the role of gastric juice in digestion. In 1847 he became Deputy Magendie, and in 1855, after his death, headed the Department of Experimental Medicine. In 1854 he was created for him the chair of general physiology at the University of Paris. In 1868, Bernard was established for the Department of Comparative Physiology at the Museum of Natural History.
The first work of Bernard, devoted to the anatomy and physiology of the salivary gland (1843), marked the beginning of his research on the physiology of digestion. In 1849 the scientist made his first major discovery, having ascertained that the pancreas secretes a substance not only conducive to the digestion of proteins and carbohydrates, but the enzyme splitting fats. Some of his observations on dogs with a remote pancreas promoted after 72 was opened insulin. In 1848, Bernard discovered glycogen and established the role of the liver in carbohydrate metabolism. In the article about the new function of the liver (1850) reported glikogenobrazuyuschey liver function and its role in maintaining the necessary level of sugar in the blood. Bernard introduced the concept of 'internal secretion', the study of which was the subject of a separate science - Endocrinology. They created the first theory to explain the nature of diabetes.

In 1858, Bernard describe in detail their next big discovery: he found that the lumen of blood vessels is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system. This meant that the flow of blood through one part of the body can be controlled by processes taking place in very different parts of his. The discovery of mechanisms regulating blood flow and maintaining blood sugar levels has led Bernard to the concept of homeostasis - the maintenance of internal environment in a state of dynamic equilibrium, . which is necessary for normal cell activity,


. In addition to work on the physiology of digestion, . metabolism and nervous regulation of circulation, . widely known works of Bernard to study the functions of blood, . mechanisms of heat, . electrical phenomena in the tissues of animals, . functions of various nerves, . Effects of anesthetics and drugs,
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Among the disciples of Bernard were researchers from England (F. Pevi), Germany (V. Kuehne), America (C. Mitchell) in his laboratory worked Sechenov. Bernard was elected a member of many European scientific societies. In 1849 founded the Biological Society, in 1867 became its president. In 1868 he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.

Bernard - author of many fundamental works on the physiology. His book Introduction to the study of experimental medicine (Introduction l'tude de la mdecine exprimentale, 1865; rus. translated 1866), in which he outlined his ideas about the role of methods and hypotheses in science, in their impact on the minds of contemporaries can be compared with Descartes' Discourse on Method. Bernard died in Paris on February 10, 1878.