appointed as an extern for the hospital, his Phycological Trailblazer momentum was interrupted by his being called No. 21 to serve in the military. But his family came to his rescue and persuaded his younger brother to Édouard Bornet take Bornet’s place, an arrangement that was then possible. Bornet was able to con nue his studies (originally printed in the Phycological newsle er. 2004. without problems. He came under the wing of Vol. 40 No. 2) Dr. J. H. Léveillé, an authorita ve mycologist of the me. Léveillé was careful not to encourage Jean-Bap se Edouard Bornet was born Bornet into a scien fic career without having on Sept. 2, 1828, in Guérigny, France, the eldest sufficient means. Bornet was not deterred, and of four sons. His father was a cashier at the in 1851 he had his first publica on in the Chaussade Foundry. Bornet received his Annales des Sciences Naturalles, a report on the educa on at the college in Nevers. He o en was fungal genus Meliola. The paper was an irritant to his instructors and was threatened accompanied by two plates, which revealed his with expulsion, but the fact ar s c talents. Bornet that he was consistently at became acquainted with the top of the class saved the eminent botanists of him from being expelled the me who o en (Flahault, 1924). His gathered at Léveillé’s summers and holidays home. were spent collec ng and At a me when Bornet iden fying plants around lacked the resources to his hometown. A senior complete his medical official at the foundry studies, upon the advice of where his father was Joseph Decaisne, Gustav employed no ced his Thuret proposed that interest and arranged to Bornet become his loan the young Bornet a assistant, an offer which microscope to encourage Bornet accepted him, and that proved to be (Woelkerling & Lamy, a decisive step in molding 1998). The two went to his future career. Versailles in 1852, where Upon gradua ng they spent the summer from college with honors in collec ng and studying 1846, Bornet was happy to plants, especially the escape from a possible cryptogams. Before the bureaucra c life. His family Édouard Bornet [from Bulle n de la Société end of 1852, Bornet and directed him toward Mycologique de France vol. 29, 1913]. Thuret established medicine because of his themselves in Cherbourg, love of nature (and plants). and despite the rigors of He headed for Paris, where his life was eased by the winter season, they ini ated their studies on the support of the parents of the young lady marine algae. They quickly realized that the who was to become his future wife and life-long marine vegeta on and the reproduc ve state of companion. Ever the eager student, Bornet the algae were very different in the winter divided his me with the faculty of medicine, the months than that of late summer. But Thuret Sorbonne, and the Museum. When he was became ill, brought on both by exhaus on and 1 Fig. 1. Cutleria mul fida (Turner) Grev. Pl. IX in Thuret & Fig. 2. Helminthora divaricata (C. Agardh) J. Agardh, Bornet (1878). Pl. XXXII in Thuret & Bornet (1878). the winter condi ons at Cherbourg. Bornet maneuver over slippery boulders, and he was recognized the need to complete his medical preoccupied with li ing the spirits of his pa ent, training, and so he returned to Paris to take his Thuret. final exams in November of 1854. He presented The constant dampness of the Cherbourg a thesis on the sexual reproduc on in both climate eventually led to Thuret’s decision to animals and plants, stressing the plants. He spend the winter at Cannes on the Riviera. He earned his ‘medical qualifica on’ in August 1855 rented a villa and returned the following winter. and soon returned to Cherbourg. Eventually, Thuret purchased a site on the The two men complemented each other An bes coast where he built a home and where perfectly. Despite having different personali es, he, with Bornet, would carry out their research. a strong friendship and an effec ve working The two colleagues had an ideal loca on to rela onship developed between Bornet and pursue their research on marine algae, the home Thuret. Thuret was tall, with a light complexion becoming full of notes, drawings, and (maybe due to his grey hair), spoke slowly, and manuscripts in various stages of comple on. carried himself with a stately demeanor, while Their research encompassed every group of Bornet was short, with a dark complexion, and marine algae, and it was their collabora on that spoke with much anima on. Thuret came across solved the difficult ques on of sexual as slightly English, while Bornet was the reproduc on in the red algae. Papenfuss (1955) quintessen al Frenchman (Farlow, 1876). The credited Bornet & Thuret (1866, 1867) as the young doctor was well trained and always ready first to clearly describe sexual reproduc on in a to work, an expert photographer, a skilled ar st, number of red algae. Thuret employed the ar st alert in body and mind. He had the agility to Riocreux, who rendered the illustra ons with 2 both great accuracy member, or and beauty. It was corresponding only during the member, of some heat of the summer 27 scien fic that Thuret and socie es around Bornet would move the world northward to spend (Guignard, 1912; me briefly visi ng De Wildeman, family and friends 1913). in Paris and then on Bornet and his to the Atlan c wife bought a coast before holiday home at returning to Cosne in the center An bes in the of France, where autumn. they had both a In 1875 Fig. 3. Nemoderma ngitana Schousboe. Pl. I, figs 8-10 in garden and a Thuret suffered a Bornet, 1892. working laboratory. fatal heart a ack at The students were the age of 57 also welcomed (Bornet, 1875). He le his library, his collec ons, there, as they were in their apartment in Paris. and a number of unfinished manuscripts to Bornet and the students would carry on Bornet, along with a generous endowment to s mula ng conversa ons as they walked along allow Bornet to con nue his work the Loire River. The Bornets spent their summers independently. Bornet completed much of the at Cosne and spent the rest of the year in Paris. collabora ve work (Bornet & Thuret, 1876, 1880; Toward the end of his long life, Bornet worked to Thuret & Bornet, 1878). Madame Henri Thuret, put his algal herbarium and other affairs into Thuret’s sister-in-law, purchased the villa with order. He donated his collec ons, which included the hope that Bornet would stay on and the Thuret herbarium, to the Paris Museum con nue the work he had done with Thuret. But (Woelkerling & Lamy, 1998). His health declined Bornet decided to re re to Paris, where he and toward the end of 1910, and he died on 18 his wife occupied the first floor of an old December 1911, at the age of 83. His devoted building. Their apartment became a mee ng wife was looked a er by Bornet’s many friends place for younger scien sts. Even though Bornet and survived him by another 10 years (DeToni, had no formal links to a University, he was 1910; Flahault, 1924). regarded as a font of knowledge, to whom many came for scien fic advice. These included Bornet, É. 1875. M. Gustave-Adolphe Thuret. Equisse Maurice Gomont, E. P. Munier-Chalmas, Paul biographique. Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot., sér. 6, 2: Hariot, Charles Flahault, and Anna Vickers 308-360. (Woelkerling & Lamy, 1998). Bornet & Flahault's ____. 1888. Algues du voyage au Golfe de Tadjoura recueillies par M. L. Faurot. Jour. de Bot. 2: 17-20. (1886-1888) monograph of heterocyst- ____. 1892. Les Algues de P.-K.-A. Schousoe, récoltées au containing Nostocaceae has been accepted by Maroc & dans la Méditerranée de 1815 à 1829. the Code to serve as the later star ng date of Mémoires de la Société na onale Sciences nomenclature on this algal group. Bornet & naturelles et mathéma ques de Cherbourg 28: Flahault (1889) also collaborated on a detailed 165-376, pl. 1-3. examina on of the algae (e.g., Ostreobium, ______& C. Flahault. 1886-1888. Révision des Gomon a, Mas gocoleus, et al.) that lived Nostocacées héterocystées con nues dans les within calcareous substrates. Bornet had the principal herbiers de France. Ann. Sci. Bot., sér. 7, highest reputa on as a scien st and was a 3: 323-381; 4: 343-373; 5: 51-129; 7: 177-262. 3 [Ar cle 13.1(e) of the Interna onal Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code) treats the four parts of the "Révision" as having been simultaneously published on 1 January 1886.] ____ & ____. 1889. Sur quelques plantes vivant dans le test calcaire des mollusques. Bull. Soc. Bot. France 36: 147-178, pls. VI-XII. ____ & G. Thuret. 1866. Note sur la féconda on des Floridées. Mém. Soc. Imp. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 12: 257-262 ____ & ____. 1867. Recherches sur la féconda on des Floridées. Ann. Sci. Nat.Bot., sér. 5, 7: 137-166, pls 11-13. ____ & ____. 1876. Notes algologiques 1. G. Masson, Paris, 90 pp., 25 pls. ____ & ____. 1880. Notes algologiques 2. G. Masson, Paris, 123 pp., 24 pls. ____ & C. Flahault. 1888. Note sur deux nouveaux genres d’algues perforantes. Jour. de Bot. 2: 161-165. De Toni, G. B. 1912. Edoardo Bornet (1828-1911). Nuova Notarisia 23: 25-42, portrait. De Willdenow, É. 1913. Édouard Bornet (1828- 1911). Bull. Soc. Roy. Belgique 52: 95-110. Flahault, C. 1924. Gustave Thuret – Edouard Bornet. Revue Algologique 1: 4-23, 1 pl. Guignard, L. 1912. No ce sur M. Édouard Bornet. Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 59: 257-301. Papenfuss, G. F. 1955. Classifica on of the algae. In: A century of progress in the natural sciences 1853-1953. California Acad. Sci., San Francisco, pp.115-224. Thuret, G., & E. Bornet. 1878. Études phycologiques. Analyses d’algues marines. [v] + iii + 105 pp., 51 pls. G. Masson, Paris. Woelkerling, W. J., & D. Lamy. 1998. Nongeniculate coralline red algae and the Paris Muséum: systema cs and scien fic theory. Muséum na onal d’Historie naturelle, ADAC. viii +767 pp.
I am grateful to Mrs. Lynda Entwisle (Sydney, Australia) for her generous help in transla ng the Flahault (1924).
Michael J. Wynne University of Michigan
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