Victor Fatio (28 November 1838 – 19 March 1906), was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

. He was a bird conservationist, noting the value of birds in pest control in agriculture. He was involved in organizing the first anti-phylloxera congress in Lauxanne in 1877.

Biography

Fatio was born as Victor Fatio de Beaumont in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

to lawyer Gustave Fatio de Beaumont and Suzanne Françoise. His interest in animals was aroused in childhood, when he was accompanied his father on hunting trips. Fatio studied

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

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and

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

where he studied under Ernst Heinrich and Eduard Weber to receive the degree of a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

with a thesis titled ''De avium corpore pneumatic'' (1860). In 1861 however, he almost forgot his physiology knowledge due to a

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...

illness. After his recovery he went to

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 ...

in 1862 to participate in the courses of

Henri Milne-Edwards Henri Milne-Edwards (23 October 1800 – 29 July 1885) was a French zoologist. Biography Henri Milne-Edwards was the 27th child of William Edwards, an English planter and colonel of the militia in Jamaica and Elisabeth Vaux, a Frenchwoman. Hen ...

(1800–1885) and Claude Bernard at the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

, where he studied zoology. He also studied zoology at Zurich under Oswald Heer and Heinrich Frey. Fatio married Anne Germaine, daughter of banker Alphone Turrettini in 1865. When

Phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belongs to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs); orig ...

invaded

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in 1874, Fatio made extensive studies and initiated the world's first congress for the prevention of the grapevine pest which took place in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

in 1877. The results of his studies and the congress were published in his work ''État de la question phylloxérique en Europe en 1877'' in 1878. Furthermore, he wrote several publications about ''Phylloxera'' in

and in

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

. Between 1869 and 1904 he worked on the ''Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse'' was released, a comprehensive work with six volumes about the mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish species of Switzerland. Together with Théophile Rudolphe Studer (1845–1922), Victor Fatio published the ''Catalogue des oiseaux de la Suisse'' ("Catalog of the Swiss birds"), of which only the first three booklets were released between 1889 and 1901. Further sixteen volumes were released by other editors until 1956. Fatio described several animal species including the Albock (''Coregonus wartmanni alpinus'', later reclassified as full species ''Coregonus fatioi'' by

Maurice Kottelat Maurice Kottelat (born 16 July 1957 in Delémont, SwitzerlandC ...

in 1997), the Pfarrig (''Coregonus confusus''), the Autumn brienzlig (''Coregonus albellus''), or the Alpine pine vole (''Microtus multiplex'').

Publications

Fatio's publications include: * ''Instructions sommaires à l'usage des Commissions centrales d'étude et de vigilance du Phylloxera des départements de la Savoie et de la Haute-Savoie.'' Chambéry, Ménard, 1877. C'est un opuscule destiné à permettre de reconnaître les premières attaques du phylloxéra. * ''Die Phylloxera (Reblaus). Kurzgefaßte Anweisungen zum Gebrauche für die kantonalen und eidgenössischen Experten in der Schweiz''. Ins Deutsche übertragen von H. Krämer. Aarau, 2. Aufl. 1879 *
Catalogue des Oiseaux de la Suisse – 1: Rapaces diurnes
' / par V. Fatio et D. Studer. 1889 *
Catalogue des Oiseaux de la Suisse – 2: Hiboux et Fissirostres
' / par V. Fatio et Th. Studer. 1894 *
Catalogue de Oiseaux de la Suisse – 3:
' ''Saxicolinae et Motacillidae.'' * ''Des diverses modifications dans les formes et la coloration des plumes''. (Tiré des Memoires...de Genève tome XVIII, 2ème partie). 1866 * ''Les campagnols du bassin du Léman''. 1867 * ''Importance d'une assurance mutuelle contre le Phylloxera dans le canton de Genève''. 1879 * ''Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse – Histoire naturelle des Mammifères''. Genève et Bâle. H. Georg, 1869 * ''Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse – Histoire naturelle des reptiles et des batraciens. ''. Genève et Bâle. H. Georg, 1872 * ''Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse – Histoire naturelle des Poissons. Part I.''. Genève et Bâle. H. Georg, 1882 * ''Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse – Histoire naturelle des Poissons. IIme partie. Physostomes (suite et fin), Anacanthiens, Chondrostéens, Cyclostomes.''. Genève et Bâle. H. Georg, 1890 * ''Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse – Histoire naturelle des Oiseaux Ie Partie''. Genève et Bâle. H. Georg, 1899 * ''Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse – Histoire naturelle des Oiseaux IIe Partie''. Genève et Bâle. H. Georg, 1904

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fatio, Victor Leipzig University alumni Scientists from Geneva 1838 births 1906 deaths 19th-century Swiss zoologists