Ralph Louis Obendorf (born July 11, 1938) is an Emeritus Professor of Crop Physiology at Cornell University who is notable for his research on the health-related components in seeds, particularly fagopyritol A1, which is isosteric to an insulin mediator believed to be deficient in subjects with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM or type II diabetes) and polycystic ovary syndrome, which affects 10% of women of reproductive age.
Édouard Ernest Prillieux (11 January 1829 in Paris – 7 October 1915 in Mondoubleau) was a French botanist and agronomist known for his work with plant diseases.
He took courses at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle as a pupil of Adrien-Henri de Jussieu and Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart, then from 1850 studied botany at the Institut national agronomique in Versailles under Pierre Étienne Simon Duchartre. For a number of years afterwards he served in various functions at the Sorbonne and at the natural history museum. From 1874 he taught classes at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, and in 1876 was named a professor of botany and plant physiology at the agronomic institute. In 1887 he became director of the Station de Pathologie végétale in Paris.In 1876 he was chosen as president of the Société nationale d'agriculture, and in 1883 became inspector general of agricultural education. In 1897 he replaced Charles Victor Naudin at the French Academy of Sciences (botanical section). From 1897 to 1906 he served as a senator representing the department of Loir-et-Cher.The mycological genera Prillieuxia (Sacc. & Syd., 1899) and Prillieuxina (G.Arnaud, 1918) commemorate his name.
Léon-Gervais-Marie Maquenne (2 December 1853 – 10 January 1925) was a French chemist and plant physiologist born in Paris.
From 1871 he worked in the laboratory of agricultural chemistry at the Ecole d'agriculture in Grignon. Here, he was a student of Pierre Paul Dehérain (1830-1902). In 1883 he became préparateur at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, where from 1885 to 1898 he served as an assistant to the chair of Physiologie végétale. In 1898 he succeeded Georges Ville (1824-1897) as chair of Physique végétale, a position he held on to until 1925. In 1904 he became a member of the Académie des sciences.
Among Maquenne's contributions was research involving the chemical make-up of sugar alcohols. He was able to resolve the chemical constitution of inositol and demonstrated it to be a hexahydroxycyclohexane.He is credited with invention of the so-called "Maquenne block", an apparatus used for determining the melting point of chemical compounds.
Henri Lucien Jumelle (25 November 1866 in Dreux, Eure-et-Loir Department, France – 6 December 1935 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône Department, France) was a French botanist.From 1887 to 1894, he worked as a plant physiologist at the Faculté des Sciences in Paris. Afterwards, he was a professor of botany at the Faculté des Sciences in Marseille (1894-1935). From 1898 to 1916, he was assistant director, then director of the Musée colonial et du Jardin botanique in Marseille.He held a deep interest in applied botany, publishing numerous treatises on the agricultural aspects of various plants. During his career, he worked closely with botanist Joseph Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie, who sent him botanical material from Madagascar. As a taxonomist, he circumscribed many new species native to Madagascar.From 1922 to 1935, he was a correspondent-member of the Académie des Sciences (botanical section).
Pierre Étienne Simon Duchartre (27 October 1811, Portiragnes – 5 November 1894, Meudon) was a French botanist.
He studied biology in Toulouse, where after graduation he worked as a teacher. From 1837 he taught classes in Fumel, several years later moving to Paris, where in 1848 he was accepted by the faculty of sciences. During the following year, he was appointed a professor of botany and plant physiology at the Institut agronomique in Versailles. In 1861 he attained the chair of botany at the Sorbonne.In 1854 he was co-founder of the Société Botanique de France, an institution in which he served as president on several separate occasions.In 1850 he experimented with sulfur as a remedy against powdery mildew, a fungus that had a serious negative impact on European grapes during the mid-19th century. The genus Duchartrea (family Gesneriaceae) was named in his honor by botanist Joseph Decaisne. He is the binomial author of many species from the botanical family Aristolochiaceae.
Pierre Paul Dehérain (19 April 1830 in Paris – 7 December 1902) was a French plant physiologist and agricultural chemist. He was notably the doctoral advisor of the Nobel Prize winner Henri Moissan.
He served as an assistant at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers in Paris, then at the age of 26, began work as a professor at the Collège Chaptal. He obtained his LSc degree in 1856 under Edmond Frémy. Later on, he taught classes in agricultural chemistry at the agricultural school in Grignon, and in 1880, became a professor of plant physiology at the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle. In 1887 he was elected a member of the Académie des sciences.As a plant physiologist, he studied the absorption of carbon dioxide by plants and the effect of artificial light, especially ultraviolet rays, on plants. He showed that plants do not absorb only those minerals that are beneficial, as previously thought, but absorb all of them and then use those that they need – so that consumption regulates absorption. He discovered respiration by plant roots and investigated the effect of different minerals on the growth of fruits. He also studied effect of crop rotation on soil quality.
The plant genus Deherainia from the family Theophrastaceae is named after him.