Corneille Heymans

Corneille Heymans
Born	(1892-03-28)28 March 1892 Ghent,Flanders,Belgium
Died	18 July 1968(1968-07-18)(aged 76) Knokke,Flanders,Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Alma mater	Ghent University
Known for	Vascular Presso- and Chemo-Receptors in Respiratory Control (blood pressure)
Awards	Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine(1938)
Scientific career
Fields	Physiology
Institutions	Ghent University
Notable students	Paul Janssen

Corneille Jean François Heymans(28 March 1892 – 18 July 1968) was aBelgianphysiologist.He studied at the JesuitCollege of Saint Barbaraand then atGhent University,where he obtained a doctor's degree in 1920.

Heymans won theNobel Prize for Physiology or Medicinein 1938 for showing howblood pressureand theoxygencontent of thebloodare measured by the body and transmitted to thebrain.

Early life and education

After graduation Heymans worked at theCollège de France(under Prof. E. Gley), theUniversity of Lausanne(under Prof. M. Arthus), theUniversity of Vienna(under Prof. H. H. Meyer),University College London(under Prof. E. H. Starling) andCase Western Reserve University School of Medicine(under Prof. C. F. Wiggers).In 1922 Heymans became lecturer in Pharmacodynamics atGhent University,and in 1930 succeeded his father,Jean-François Heymans,as Professor of Pharmacology, as well as being appointed Head of the Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacodynamics, and Toxicology; and Director of the J. F. Heymans Institute.

Research

Heymans was awarded theNobel Prize for Physiology or Medicinein 1938 for showing howblood pressureand theoxygencontent of thebloodare measured in the body and transmitted to thebrainvia the nerves and not by the blood itself.

Heymans accomplished this byvivisectionof two dogs, the head of one connected to its body only by nerves, and the second one's body was used to cross-perfuse (supply blood) to the first dog's head. Heymans found that the first dog's upward and downward cardiovascular reflex arc traffic were carried by its ownvagus nerves,but agents introduced to the second dog's blood, which served the first dog's brain, had no effect. He used a similar experiment to demonstrate the role ofperipheralchemoreceptorsin respiratory regulation, for which he received his Nobel Prize.

He was the Editor-in-Chief ofArchives Internationales de Pharmacodynamie et de Thérapiefor many years. His memberships included thePontifical Academy of Sciences,theAcadémie des Sciences,and theRoyal Society of Arts.

The group of physiopharmacologists working under Heymans at Ghent University were looking for the anatomical basis of the respiratory reflex at thecarotid sinus.It was necessary that the SpanishneurohistologistFernando de Castro Rodríguez(1898–1967) described in detail the innervation of the aorta-carotid region, circumscribing the presence of baroreceptors to the carotid sinus, but that of chemoreceptors to the carotid body, for the Belgian group to move their focus from the first to the very small second structure to physiologically demonstrate the nature and function of the first blood chemoreceptors.The contribution of the young De Castro, maybe the last direct disciple ofSantiago Ramón y Cajal(1852–1934; awarded the 1906 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine) was overlooked at the time, but it was later recognizedthat he deserved to share the Nobel Prize with Heymans, his colleague and friend.

Personal life

Heymans married Berthe May (1892–1974), an ophthalmologist, in 1929 and had five children. He died inKnokkefrom a stroke.

Honours and awards

• Heymans (crater)on the Moon
• Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine(1938)
• Member,American Philosophical Society(1962)

External links

• Corneille Heymanson Nobelprize.orgincluding the Nobel Lecture on 12 December 1945The Part Played by Vascular Presso- and Chemo-Receptors in Respiratory Control
• Corneille Heymans, (1892–1968), Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology and Medicine 1938
• The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics: The First Sixty Years – 1908–1969 p.145
• Dead Scientist of the Week
• Karl Grandin, ed. (1938)."Corneille Heymans Biography".Les Prix Nobel.The Nobel Foundation.Retrieved24 July2008.