Maurice Caullery

Maurice CaulleryFrench biologist Maurice Caullery was known for contributing significantly to the understanding of the life cycles of various marine organisms.

Maurice Caullery (born September 5, 1868, Bergues, France—died July 15, 1958, Paris) was a French biologist known for his research on parasitic protozoans and marine invertebrates.

Caullery taught at the University of Marseille (1900) and the University of Paris (1903) and succeeded Alfred Giard as director of the zoological station at Wimereux (1909). He was particularly interested in how the morphology, reproduction, and ecology of tunicates (related to vertebrates) and annelid worms had a bearing on their evolution. He also described and named the marine worm Siboglinum weberi, which later became the basis for establishing the invertebrate phylum Pogonophora.

Among Caullery’s more important works are Le Parasitisme et la symbiose (1922; Parasitism and Symbiosis, 1952), Le Problème de l’évolution (1931; “The Problem of Evolution”), and Organisme et sexualité (1942; “Organism and Sexuality”).

Caullery belonged to several scientific academies, among them the Royal Society in London, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He also served as president of the Académie des Sciences in 1945.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Gitanjali Roy.