Achille Valenciennes

Vocation

French zoologist who was the binomial authority for many species of fish, such as the bartail jawfish. In the scientific field of herpetology, Valenciennes described two new species of reptiles. Valenciennes studied under Georges Cuvier. Valenciennes' study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasitology. Valenciennes also carried out diverse systematic classifications, linking fossil and current species. He worked with Cuvier on the 22-volume Histoire Naturelle des Poissons (Natural History of Fish) (1828–1848), carrying on alone after Cuvier died in 1832. In 1832 he succeeded Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (1777–1850) as chair of Histoire naturelle des mollusques, des vers et des zoophytes at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Early in his career, he was tasked of classifying animals described by Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) during his travels in the American tropics (1799 to 1803), and a lasting friendship was established between the two men. He died on 13 April 1865, aged 70, in Paris. Link to Wikipedia biography