Edmé Félix Alfred Vulpian (5 January 1826 – 18 May 1887) was a French
physician
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
and
neurologist
Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...
. He was the co-discoverer of
Vulpian-Bernhardt spinal
muscular atrophy
Muscle atrophy is the loss of skeletal muscle mass. It can be caused by sedentary lifestyle, immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system. Muscle atrophy le ...
and the
Vulpian-Heidenhain-Sherrington phenomenon.
Vulpian was born in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, in 1826. Among other noted discoveries and experiments, Vulpian discovered
adrenaline
Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands a ...
in the
adrenal medulla
The adrenal medulla () is the inner part of the adrenal gland. It is located at the center of the gland, being surrounded by the adrenal cortex. It is the innermost part of the adrenal gland, consisting of chromaffin cells that secrete catecho ...
. He was the first to use the term "
fibrillation" to describe a chaotic irregular rhythm of the heart.
[Cardioversion Past, Present and Future. Cakulev I, Efimov I and Waldo A. Circulation 2009; 120:1623–1632]
Vulpian's monument in Paris
A large marble statue has been erected to Vulpian, just at the end of Rue Antoine Dubois, a short distance from the Faculty of Medicine in which he once taught. In the basement, there is the following inscription: .
Bibliography
* ''Essai sur l'origine réelle de plusieurs nerfs crâniens''. Doctoral thesis, Paris, 1853.
* Note sur quelques réactions propres à la substance des capsules surrénales. ''Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences'', Paris, 1856, 43: 663–665.
* ''Des pneumonies secondaires''. Thèse d'agrégation, Paris, 1860.
* ''Leçons sur la physiologie générale et comparée du système nerveux, faites en 1864 au Muséum d'histoire naturelle''. Paris, Gerner-Baillière, 1866.
* ''Leçons sur l'appareil vaso-moteur (physiologie et pathologie) faites à la Faculté de Médecine de Paris en 1873''. Rédigées par H. C. Carville. Paris, Gerner-Baillière, 2 volumes, 1874–1875.
* ''Leçons sur la pathologie expérimentale de l'appareil digestif''.
* ''Leçons sur l'action physiologique des poisons et médicaments, faites à la Faculté de médecine de Paris en 1875''. Journal de l'École de Médecine.
* ''Maladies du système nerveux; leçons professées à la Faculté de Médecine''. 2 volumes, Paris, Doin, 1879 and 1886.
See also
*
Joseph Jules Dejerine
References
External links
Edmé Félix Alfred Vulpian WhoNamedIt.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vulpian
1826 births
1887 deaths
French neurologists
19th-century French physicians
Members of the French Academy of Sciences