author
Claude Bernard
1813–1878
A founder of modern experimental medicine, this French physiologist helped change how scientists study the body. His work on digestion, the liver, and the body’s internal balance still echoes through physiology today.
1 Audiobook
Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale
by Claude Bernard
About the author
Born in Saint-Julien in the Beaujolais region of France in 1813, Claude Bernard did not begin as an obvious scientific prodigy. He briefly pursued writing and worked as a pharmacy assistant before moving to Paris to study medicine, where he came under the influence of the great physiologist François Magendie.
Bernard became one of the 19th century’s most important medical researchers. He is especially known for discoveries about the pancreas in digestion, the liver’s role in producing glycogen, and the nervous system’s control of blood vessels. He also introduced the idea of the milieu intérieur—the body’s stable internal environment—a concept that later helped shape modern thinking about homeostasis.
Just as important as his findings was his method. Bernard argued that medicine should be grounded in carefully designed experiments rather than guesswork, and his writings on scientific practice became classics in their own right. He died in Paris in 1878, widely recognized as a central figure in the rise of modern physiology and experimental medicine.