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Since the beginning of the 19th century, naturalists from Nice, Paris, and all over Europe visited Villefranche because of the wealth of pelagic fauna found in the bay. In 1882 Jules Barrois and Hermann Fol created a laboratory in the building of the former arsenal of Villefranche. With the support of Alexis Korotneff, this laboratory was moved to the « Russian house » in 1884. In 1931, the laboratory became part of the French Ministry of National Education, and Villefranche marine station was managed under the authority of Banyuls marine station and the University of Paris.
Many scientists have contributed to the creation and the development of research laboratories in Villefranche-sur-Mer, but it is the exceptional location on the edge of a harbor with rapid and easy access to the deep sea which has ensured the longevity of these laboratories until today.
(*1852, +1943)
Zoologist et Embryologist
From 1854, Jules Barrois worked on the embryonic developement of marine organisms in Wimereux. He defended his thesis in 1877 and two years later decided to settle down around Nice. He then turned to the study of salp development and met Hermann Fol. Encouraged by Alexandre Agassiz, Anton Dohrn and Charles Darwin, Jules Barrois created a laboratory affiliated with the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Villefranche. Hermann Fol became deputy director of this laboratory.
From 1882, the Villefranche laboratory has welcomed many European naturalists who came to study the pelagic animals easily collected in the Villefranche bay.
(*1845, +1892)
Zoologist and embryologist
Hermann Fol learned zoology from Ernst Haeckel in Jena.
He frequently visited Messina where he studied the appendicularians and the embryology of pelagic molluscs. He also described the first events of fertilization in starfish eggs.
Hermann Fol was appointed Professor in Geneva and came to Villefranche in 1879 where he worked with Jules Barrois to set up the very first laboratory. He offered his ship the Amphiaster to be used for the laboratory dives and dredging. In 1886, he resigned from his position in Geneva and remained as deputy director in Villefranche. In 1892, Hermann Fol organized an expedition to study sponges on the coasts of Tunisia; he embarked at Le Havre but then disappeared at sea.
(*1852, +1915)
Zoologist
Alexis Korotneff studied zoology in Moscow.
While he was working toward his thesis, he visited Roscoff and met Henri Lacaze-Duthiers. After his thesis defense, he spent some time in Naples and Villefranche. In 1884, he helped Jules Barrois to set up a laboratory in the large building called the Russian house. Jules Barrois and Alexis Korotneff became directors of the new laboratory. In 1886 Alexis Korotneff was appointed professor at the University of Kieff and later continued as sole director of the zoological station in Villefranche. At his death in 1915, Michael Davidoff became director.
(*1852, +1933)
Zoologist
Although he aimed to become a musician, Michael Davidoff was won over to biology by the theory of Evolution. He studied with Ernst Haeckel in Jena, then with Otto Bürschli in Heidelberg who oriented him towards marine fauna. In 1882 he came to Villefranche and worked in the laboratory of Jules Barrois, but was more often at the zoological station in Naples where he met Alexis Korotneff. In 1894, the latter convinced him to be his deputy director at the zoological station of Villefranche. M Davidoff instigated use of the ship Velella, which was acquired in 1903. He developed histology techniques and established a museum exhibiting the marine wildlife of the Villefranche bay.
(*1886, +1969)
Zoologist
Grégoir Trégouboff was born in Kieff and pursued his studies in Montpellier. In 1913, he spent some time in Villefranche to study plankton and then was hired at the zoological station as an assistant in charge of the library. From 1916 to 1931, G Tregouboff worked closely with the director M Davidoff. G Trégouboff became deputy director in 1931 when the station was attached to the Arago Laboratory in Banyuls. He joined the CNRS at that time. He took part in French bathyscaphe submersible dives off the coast of Nice. In 1957, Grégoire Trégouboff with Maurice Rose published a reference work on Mediterranean plankton.
Des Laboratoires de Zoologie Marine 1882 - 1885 à l'Observatoire Océanlogique de Villefranche-sur-Mer au XXIe siècle
Institut de la Mer de Villefranche FR 3761
