Victor Henri | |
---|---|
Born |
Marseille, France |
6 June 1872
Died | 21 June 1940 La Rochelle, France |
(aged 68)
Citizenship | France |
Fields | Physical chemistry, psychology |
Institutions | University of Paris, University of Göttingen, University of Leipzig |
Victor Henri (6 June 1872 – 21 June 1940) was a French-Russian physical chemist and physiologist. He was born in Marseille as a son of Russian parents. He is known mainly as an early pioneer in enzyme kinetics. He published over 500 papers in a variety of disciplines including biochemistry, physical chemistry, psychology and physiology.
Victor Henri's parents were Aleksandra Viktorovna Lyapunova and Nikolay Alexandrovich Krylov. They were not married. Instead, Krylov was married to the mother’s sister, Sofiya Viktorovna. At that time, an illegitimate child had no rights if born in Russia, but if born in France would be a French citizen. Thus, his parents decided to travel to Marseilles. After Victor Henri was born there, Krylov and his legitimate wife adopted him, and took him back to Saint Petersburg. There he attended a German secondary school.
The two mothers were first cousins of Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov, a notable mathematician who did pioneering work in stability theory, Sergei Mikhailovich Lyapunov, a composer, and Boris Mikhailovich Lyapunov, who is well known in Russia as an expert in Slavic languages.
In 1891, Henri entered the Sorbonne University in Paris, where he received an education in mathematics and, later, in Natural Sciences. After finishing university, he got intrigued by philosophy and psychology.
Henri graduated with two PhD theses: in 1897 in psychology at the University of Göttingen and 1903 in Paris in Physical Chemistry. In 1930, he was appointed full professor in Physical Chemistry at the University of Liège (Belgium).