Dominique Alexandre Godron

{{Short description|French botanist (1807–1880)}} [[File:Dominique Alexandre Godron.jpg|right|thumb|Dominique Alexandre Godron]] '''Dominique Alexandre Godron''' ({{IPA|fr|dɔminik alɛksɑ̃dʁ ɡɔdʁɔ̃}}; 25 March 1807 - 16 August 1880) was a French physician, [[botanist]], [[geologist]] and [[speleology|speleologist]] born in the town of [[Hayange]], in the ''[[département]]'' [[Moselle]].

Godron studied medicine at the [[University of Strasbourg]], and during his career distinguished himself in [[natural sciences]] as well as in the field of medicine. In 1854 he became dean and professor of [[natural history]] to the Faculty of Sciences at [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]. Here he established a natural history museum and reorganized its [[botanical garden]] (now the ''[[Jardin Dominique Alexandre Godron]]'', renamed in his honor).

Among his numerous writings were a publication on the flora of the [[Lorraine (region)|Lorraine]] region of France called "''Flore de Lorraine''" (1843), and the three-volume "''Flore de France''", a work on flora native to France and [[Corsica]] that was co-written with botanist [[Jean Charles Marie Grenier]] (1808-1875). In addition to his botanical works, he published a number of studies in the field of [[ethnology]].<ref>[http://www.idref.fr/06705420X IDREF.fr] (extensive bibliography of Godron]</ref> Godron issued at least two [[exsiccata]]-like series distributing duplicate plant specimens, namely ''Herbier normal de la flora de Lorraine'' and ''Plantae Galliae australis''.<ref name="Triebel & Scholz 2001-2025">Triebel, D. & Scholz, P. 2001–2025 ''IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae''. Botanische Staatssammlung München: http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de. – München, Germany.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Herbier normal de la flora de Lorraine: IndExs ExsiccataID=2147199915 |website=IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=2147199915 |access-date=9 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Plantae Galliae australis: IndExs ExsiccataID=879426304 |website=IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=879426304 |access-date=9 March 2025}}</ref>

Before [[Gregor Mendel|Mendel]], he discovered the main features of [[hybrid (biology)|hybridation]]. In "''de l'Espece et des races dans les êtres organises''" he also demonstrated that hybridization in the vegetal world was, against the dominant thinking at the time, similar to hybridization in the animal world. He finally demonstrated the unity of mankind in his book dedicated to our species.

In 1846, he was honoured by botanists [[Jean Baptiste Mougeot]] and [[Joseph Henri Léveillé]] who named ''[[Godronia]]'', which is a [[genus]] of [[fungi]] in the family [[Helotiaceae]]. Then in 1927, [[William Webster Diehl]] and [[Edith Katherine Cash]] published ''[[Godroniopsis]]'', which is also a genus of fungi in the family Helotiaceae.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Lumbsch TH, Huhndorf SM |date=December 2007 |title=Outline of Ascomycota – 2007 |journal=Myconet |volume=13 |pages=1–58 |url=http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/myconet/outline.asp |publisher=The Field Museum, Department of Botany |location=Chicago, USA |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318003134/http://www.fieldmuseum.org/myconet/outline.asp |archivedate=2009-03-18 }}</ref>

== References == {{reflist|30em}} * [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.historique-fst.uhp-nancy.fr/personnages/godron.php%3FPHPSESSID%3D93eada0118baaa206405fc8982b8818d&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=10&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Godron,%2BDominique%2BAlexandre%2522%2B1807%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG Biography of Dominique Alexandre Godron] (translated from French). {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godron, Dominique Alexandre}} [[Category:French naturalists]] [[Category:1807 births]] [[Category:1880 deaths]] [[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:People from Hayange]] [[Category:19th-century French botanists]] [[Category:19th-century French medical doctors]]