BIOLOGISTS from Luxembourg

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Luxembourger Biologists of all time. This list of famous Luxembourger Biologists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Jules A. Hoffmann (b. 1941)

With an HPI of 62.84, Jules A. Hoffmann is the most famous Luxembourger Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 52 different languages on wikipedia.

Jules Alphonse Nicolas Hoffmann (French pronunciation: [ʒyl ɔfman]; born 2 August 1941) is a French biologist. During his youth, growing up in Luxembourg, he developed a strong interest in insects under the influence of his father, Jos Hoffmann. This eventually resulted in the younger Hoffmann's dedication to the field of biology using insects as model organisms. He currently holds a faculty position at the University of Strasbourg. He is a research director and member of the board of administrators of the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS) in Strasbourg, France. He was elected to the positions of Vice-President (2005–2006) and President (2007–2008) of the French Academy of Sciences. Hoffmann and Bruce Beutler were jointly awarded a half share of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity,". [More specifically, the work showing increased Drosomycin expression following activation of Toll pathway in microbial infection.] Hoffmann and Bruno Lemaitre discovered the function of the fruit fly Toll gene in innate immunity. Its mammalian homologs, the Toll-like receptors, were discovered by Beutler. Toll-like receptors identify constituents of other organisms like fungi and bacteria, and trigger an immune response, explaining, for example, how septic shock can be triggered by bacterial remains.

2. Heinrich Johann Nepomuk von Crantz (1722 - 1799)

With an HPI of 54.38, Heinrich Johann Nepomuk von Crantz is the 2nd most famous Luxembourger Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Heinrich Johann Nepomuk von Crantz (Roodt-sur-Eisch, Luxembourg, 25 November 1722 – 18 January 1799, Judenburg, Austria) was a botanist and a physician. In 1750 he obtained his doctorate of medicine in Vienna, where he was a pupil of Gerard van Swieten (1700–1772). He studied obstetrics in Paris and London. In Paris he was influenced by André Levret (1703–1780) and Nicolas Puzos (1686–1753). He was first married to Anna Susanne Petrasch and then to Magda Lena de Tremon. He had two sons and one daughter. He became a lecturer in obstetrics at St. Mary's Hospital in Vienna in 1754. From 1756 to 1774, he taught physiology and materia medica at the university in that city. He was the author of: Einleitung in eine wahre und gegründete Hebammenkunst (1756). Commentarius de rupto in partus doloribus a foetu utero (1756). Commentatio de instrumentorum in arte obstetricia historia utilitate et recta ac praepostera applicatione (1757). De systemate irritabilitatis (1761). Materia medica et chirurgica (three volumes, 1762) (Vol. 1 - 3 1765 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf) De aquis medicatis principatus Transsylvaniae (1773). Die Gesundbrunnen der Österreichischen Monarchie (1777). He recommended better methods of hygiene for midwives. In addition to his work in medicine, he studied chemistry, botany, and the sources of mineral water. The plant genus Crantzia (Gesneriaceae) was named for him by Thomas Nuttall.