Paul Wintrebert (1867–1966) was a French

embryologist Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

and a theoretician of

developmental biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...

. He coined the term

cytoskeleton The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic network of interlinking protein filaments present in the cytoplasm of all cells, including those of bacteria and archaea. In eukaryotes, it extends from the cell nucleus to the cell membrane and is compos ...

(''cytosquelette'') in 1931. He held radical

epigenetic In biology, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix ''epi-'' (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in ...

views. In his 60s, he published a trilogy in which he describes his position on life process and living being: ''Le vivant créateur de son évolution'' (The living being is the creator of his own evolution) (1962), ''Le développement du vivant par lui-même'' (The self-development of the living being) (1963), and ''L'existence délivrée de l'existentialisme'' (Existence delivered from existentialism) (1965). He was a critic of the

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, ...

ist theory of evolution. His views have been described as a "biochemical

Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

". "Papers presented at a conference on problems of reduction in biology, held in Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio, Italy, Sept. 9-16, 1972."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wintrebert, Paul 1867 births 1966 deaths French embryologists French biologists Lamarckism