Isidore Geoffroy Saint-HilaireBorn 16 Dec 1805; died 10 Nov 1861 at age 55.French zoologist who isnoted for his work studying anatomical abnormalities in humans and lower animals, for which he coined the term “teratology”in 1832. Although his father, Étienne, had initiated such studies, Isidore was the first to publish an extensive study of teratology, organising all known human and animal malformations taxonomically in Histoire générale et particulière des anomalies de l'organisation chez l'homme et les animaux. This taxonomy of mutants paralleled the Linnean system of natural species: assigning to each a class, order, family, genus, and even species. Many of the principles governing abnormal development were enunciated for the first time in this work. Many of hundreds of names for specific malformations are still in use. |