Edouard Van Beneden

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Edouard Van Beneden
Edouard Van Beneden
Edouard Van Beneden
Born 5 March 1846
Leuven
Died 28 April 1910
Liège
Nationality Belgian
Fields embryologist
Institutions University of Liège
Known for meiosis

Edouard Van Beneden (5 March 1846, Leuven28 April 1910, Liège), son of Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden, was a Belgian embryologist, cytologist and marine biologist. He was professor of zoology at the University of Liège; he has been at the basis of the genetic studies of the 20th century, thanks to his works on a parasite of the horse, that made him discover how chromosomes combined during reproduction (meiosis).

Together with Walther Flemming, Eduard Strasburger, and others, he elucidated the essential facts of cell division and stressed the importance of the qualitative and quantitative equality of chromosome distribution to daughter cells.

[edit] References

  • Hamoir, G (Mar 1992). The discovery of meiosis by E. Van Beneden, a breakthrough in the morphological phase of heredity. Int. J. Dev. Biol. 36 (1): 9-15. PMID 1627480. 
  • Hamoir, G (Oct 1986). [Edouard Van Beneden, biologist and stoic]. Revue médicale de Liège 41 (20): 779-85. PMID 3541105.