Jean Rostand
Encyclopedia
Jean Rostand was a French
biologist
and philosopher.
Active as an experimental biologist, Rostand became famous for his work as a science writer, as well as a philosopher and an activist. His scientific work covered a variety of biological fields such as amphibian
embryology
, parthenogenesis
and teratogeny, while his literary output extended into popular science, history of science
and philosophy. His work in the area of cryogenics
gave the idea of cryonics
to Robert Ettinger
.
He was the son of playwright
Edmond Rostand
and poet
ess Rosemonde Gérard
as well as the brother of novelist and playwright Maurice Rostand
.
Following the footsteps of his father, Rostand was elected to the prestigious Académie française
in 1959.
Rostand was a dynamic activist in several causes, in particular against nuclear proliferation
and the death penalty. An agnostic, he demonstrated deep humanist convictions. He wrote several books on the question of eugenism and the responsibilities of mankind regarding its own fate and its place in nature.
He married Andrée Mante in 1920. His son François was born the following year.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
and philosopher.
Active as an experimental biologist, Rostand became famous for his work as a science writer, as well as a philosopher and an activist. His scientific work covered a variety of biological fields such as amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
embryology
Embryology
Embryology is a science which is about the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage...
, parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction found in females, where growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization by a male...
and teratogeny, while his literary output extended into popular science, history of science
History of science
The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....
and philosophy. His work in the area of cryogenics
Cryogenics
In physics, cryogenics is the study of the production of very low temperature and the behavior of materials at those temperatures. A person who studies elements under extremely cold temperature is called a cryogenicist. Rather than the relative temperature scales of Celsius and Fahrenheit,...
gave the idea of cryonics
Cryonics
Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
to Robert Ettinger
Robert Ettinger
Robert Chester Wilson Ettinger was an American academic, known as "the father of cryonics" because of the impact of his 1962 book The Prospect of Immortality...
.
He was the son of playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
ess Rosemonde Gérard
Rosemonde Gérard
Louise-Rose-Étiennette Gérard, known as Rosemonde Gérard was a French poet and playwright. She was the wife of Edmond Rostand , and was a granddaughter of Étienne Maurice Gérard, who was a Marshal and a Prime Minister of France.Gérard is perhaps best known today as the author of the...
as well as the brother of novelist and playwright Maurice Rostand
Maurice Rostand
Maurice Rostand was a French author, the son of the noted poet and dramatist Edmond Rostand and the poet Rosemonde Gérard, and brother of the biologist Jean Rostand.Rostand was a writer of poems, novels, and plays...
.
Following the footsteps of his father, Rostand was elected to the prestigious Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
in 1959.
Rostand was a dynamic activist in several causes, in particular against nuclear proliferation
Nuclear proliferation
Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of nuclear weapons, fissile material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information, to nations which are not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the...
and the death penalty. An agnostic, he demonstrated deep humanist convictions. He wrote several books on the question of eugenism and the responsibilities of mankind regarding its own fate and its place in nature.
He married Andrée Mante in 1920. His son François was born the following year.
Selected works
- Le retour des pauvres , 1919 - Return of the poor
- La loi des riches, 1920 - The law of the rich
- Pendant qu’on souffre encore, 1921 - While suffering endures
- Ignace ou l'Écrivain , 1923 - Ignace or the writer
- Deux angoisses : la mort, l’amour, 1924 - Two anguishes: love and death
- De la vanité et de quelques autres sujets , 1925 - Of vanity and several other subjects
- Les familiotes et autres essais de mystique bourgeoise, 1925 - The familiotes and other essayd of the bourgeois mystique
- De l’amour des idées , 1926 - On the love of ideas
- Le mariage, 1927 - Marriage
- Valère ou l’Exaspéré , 1927 - Valère or The exasperated
- Julien ou Une conscience, 1928 - Julien or A conscience
- Les chromosomes, artisans de l’hérédité et du sexe, 1929 - Chromosomes, artesans of heredity and sex
- De la mouche à l’Homme, 1930 - From fly to man
- L’état présent du transformisme, 1931 - The current state of transformism
- Journal d’un caractère, 1931 - Journal of a character
- L’Évolution des espèces, 1932 - The evolution of species
- Les problèmes de l’hérédité et du sexe, 1933 - The problems of heredity and sex
- L’aventure humaine, 1933 - The human adventure
- La vie des libellules, 1935 - The life of dragonflies
- Insectes, 1936 - Insects
- La nouvelle biologie, 1937 - The new biology
- Biologie et médecine, 1938 - Biology and medicine
- Hérédité et racisme, 1938 - Heredity and racism
- Pensée d’un biologiste, 1938 - Thoughts from a biologist
- La vie et ses problèmes, 1938 - Life and its problems
- Science et génération, 1940 - Science and generation
- Les idées nouvelles de la génétique, 1941 - New ideas in genetics
- L’Homme, introduction à l’étude de la biologie humaine , 1941 - Man, introduction to the study of human biology
- L’Homme, maître de la vie, 1941 - Man, master of life
- Hommes de vérité 1942 - Men of truth
- L’avenir de la biologie, 1943 - The future of biology
- La genèse de la vie, histoire des idées sur la génération spontanée , 1943 - Genesis of life, a history of the ideas on spontaneous generation
- La vie des vers à soie , 1944 - The life of silkworms
- Esquisse d’une histoire de la biologie , 1945 - Sketch of a history of biology
- L’avenir de la biologie, 1946 - The future of biology
- Qu’est-ce qu’un enfant ?, 1946 - What is a child?
- Charles Darwin , 1947
- Nouvelles pensées d’un biologiste, 1947 - New thoughts from a biologist
- L’hérédité humaine , 1948 - Human heredity
- Hommes de vérité II , 1948 - Men of truth II
- La biologie et l’avenir humain, 1949 - Biology and the human future
- L’Homme devant la biologie, 1949 - Man facing biology
- La parthénogenèse, reproduction virginale chez les animaux, 1949 - Parthenogenesis, virginal reproduction in animals
- La parthénogenèse animale, 1949 - Animal parthenogenesis
- La génétique des batraciens, 1951 - Batrachian genetics
- Les grands courants de la biologie , 1951 - Great trends in biology
- Les origines de la biologie expérimentale et l’abbé Spallanzani , 1951 - The origins of experimental biology and the abbott Spallanzani
- L’hérédité humaine, 1952 - Human heredity
- Pages d’un moraliste , 1952 - Pages by a moralist
- Ce que nous apprennent les crapauds et les grenouilles, 1953 - What toads and frogs teach us
- La vie, cette aventure, 1953 - Life, that adventure
- Ce que je crois, 1953 - What I believe
- Instruire sur l’Homme, 1953 - To instruct on Man
- Notes d’un biologiste , 1954 - Notes from a biologist
- Les crapauds et les grenouilles et quelques grands problèmes biologiques, 1955 - Toads, frogs and a few great problems in biology
- Le problème biologique de l’individu, 1955 - The biological problem of the individual
- L’Homme en l’an 2000 , 1956 - Man in the year 2000
- Peut-on modifier l’Homme ?, 1956 - Can we modify Man?
- L’atomisme en biologie, 1956- Atomism in biology
- Bestiaire d’amour, 1958 - A bestiary of love
- Aux sources de la biologie, 1958 - At the sources of biology
- Anomalies des amphibiens anoures, 1958 - Anomalies of anurian amphibians
- Science fausse et fausses sciences, 1958 - Erroneous science and false science
- Les origines de la biologie expérimentale , 1959 - Origins of experimental biology
- Carnet d’un biologiste , 1959 - Notepad of a biologist
- Espoirs et inquiétudes de l’homme , 1959 - The hopes and worries of Man
Biography
- Marcel Migeo: Les Rostand, Paris, Stock, 1973. About Edmond, Rosemonde, Jean and Maurice Rostand.