Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T17:39:25.029Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Charles Georges Thibault (1919–2003): inspirational leader in French reproductive biology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2016

R.H.F Hunter
R.H.F Hunter*
Affiliation:
Ladfield, Oxnam, Jedburgh TD8 6RJ, Roxburghshire, UK Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
*
All correspondence to: R.H.F Hunter. Ladfield, Oxnam, Jedburgh TD8 6RJ, Roxburghshire, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The contribution of Charles Thibault in creating and developing a major international centre of animal research at Jouy-en-Josas (near Versailles) in post Second World War France is recorded in detail. Not only did he select a team of gifted young chercheurs, but he stimulated and supported their research in diverse ways. The projects covered were not only primarily of significance to animal reproduction, but they also became relevant to human infertility studies and to IVF treatments. Members of the team in Physiologie Animale gained international research reputations and seasoned overseas researchers were attracted to Jouy-en-Josas for their sabbaticals. Thibault himself was known especially for his studies on the mammalian oocyte, on fertilization both in vivo and in vitro, and for a key publication on parthenogenesis. Over and above leading the department of Physiologie Animale at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), he was Professor of Reproductive Physiology at the University of Paris VI and an influential member of national committees in Paris. His formal career reached a peak with his appointment as President of the French scientific research organisation (CNRS), and his overall contributions were celebrated both nationally and internationally, not least as Commander of the Legion d'Honneur and recipient of the Wolf Prize, the latter being presented in the Israeli Parliament, the Knessett. His influence continues to be strong, felt in France and beyond through his protégés and his publications.

Type
Commentary
Information
Zygote , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 1 - 9
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Austin, C.R. (1951). Observations on the penetration of the sperm into the mammalian egg. Aust. J. Sci. Res. B 4, 581–96.Google Scholar
Bomsel-Helmreich, O. (1965). Heteroploidy and embryonic death. In Preimplantation Stages of Pregnancy (Wolstenholme, G.E.W. & O'Connor, M., eds), pp. 246–67. Ciba Fdn Symposia, J. & Churchill, A., London.Google Scholar
Chang, M.C. (1951). Fertilising capacity of spermatozoa deposited into the Fallopian tubes. Nature 168, 697–8.Google Scholar
Dauzier, L, & Thibault, C. (1956). Recherche experimentale sur la maturation des gametes males chez les mammiferes par l'etude de la fecondation ‘in vitro’ de l'oeuf de lapine. Proc. 3rd Int. Congr. Anim. Reprod., Cambridge, 1, 58–61.Google Scholar
Edwards, R.G. (2005). An astonishing journey into reproductive genetics since the 1950’s. Reprod. Nutr. Dev. 45, 299–306.Google Scholar
Foote, W.D. & Thibault, C. (1969). Recherches experimentales sur la maturation in vitro des ovocytes de truie et de veau. Annls. Biol. Anim. Biochim. Biophys. 9, 329–49.Google Scholar
Hunter, R.H.F. (2005). The Fallopian tubes in domestic mammals: how vital is their physiological activity? Reprod. Nutr. Dev. 45, 281–90.Google Scholar
Steptoe, P.C. & Edwards, R.G. (1978). Birth after the reimplantation of a human embryo. Lancet ii, 366.Google Scholar
Thibault, C. (1949) L'oeuf des mammifères. Son développement parthénogénetique. Annales des Sciences Naturelles (Zoologie), Séries 11, 136–219.Google Scholar
Thibault, C. (1973). Sperm transport and storage in vertebrates. J. Reprod. Fert. Suppl. 18, 39–53.Google Scholar
Thibault, C. (1977). Are follicular and oocyte maturation independent processes? J. Reprod Fert. 51, 1–15.Google Scholar
Thibault, C. (1999). Ovulation. Contracep. Fertil. Sexualite. 27, 605–13.Google Scholar
Thibault, C. (2003). Recent data on the development of cloned embryos derived from reconstructed eggs with adult cells. Reprod. Nutr. Dev. 43, 303–24.Google Scholar
Thibault, C., Dauzier, L. & Wintenberger, S. (1954). Etude cytologique de la fécondation in vitro de l'oeuf de la lapine. C.R Soc. Biol. 148, 789–90.Google Scholar
Thibault, C., Gérard, M. & Heyman, Y. (1973). Transport et survie des spermatozoides chez la vache. In: Transport, survie et pouvoir fecondant des spermatozoides chez les vertebres 26, 343–56, INSERM. Paris.Google Scholar
Thibault, C. & Gérard, M. (1970). Facteur cytoplasmique necessaire a la formation du pronucleus male dans l'ovocyte de lapine. C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 270, 2025–6.Google Scholar
Thibault, C., Gerard, M. & Menezo, Y. (1975). Acquisition par l'ovocyte de lapine et de veau du facteur de decondensation du noyeau de spermatozoide fecondant (MPGF). Annls. Biol. Anim. Biochim. Biophys. 15, 705–14.Google Scholar
Thibault, C., Szollosi, D. & Gerard, M. (1987). Mammalian oocyte maturation. Reprod. Nutr. Dev. 27, 865–86.Google Scholar
Thibault, C. & Levasseur, M.C. (1991). La Reproduction chez les Mammifères et l'Homme. Ellipses, Paris.Google Scholar
Thibault, C., Levasseur, M.C. & Hunter, R.H.F. (1993). Reproduction in Mammals and Man. Ellipses, Paris.Google Scholar