Edouard Van Beneden facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edouard Van Beneden
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Edouard Van Beneden
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| Born | 5 March 1846 |
| Died | 28 April 1910 (aged 64) |
| Citizenship | Belgian |
| Known for | meiosis |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | embryologist |
| Institutions | University of Liège |
Édouard Joseph Louis Marie Van Beneden (born March 5, 1846, in Leuven – died April 28, 1910, in Liège) was an important Belgian scientist. He was the son of another famous biologist, Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden.
Édouard was an embryologist, a scientist who studies how living things develop from a single cell. He was also a cytologist, meaning he studied cells, and a marine biologist, who studies ocean life. He worked as a professor of zoology (the study of animals) at the University of Liège.
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Who Was Edouard Van Beneden?
Edouard Van Beneden made big discoveries in the field of cytogenetics. This is the study of how chromosomes work inside cells. He did a lot of his research on a type of roundworm called Ascaris.
His Big Discovery: Meiosis
Van Beneden's most famous discovery was how chromosomes organize meiosis. Meiosis is a special type of cell division. It's how living things make gametes, which are reproductive cells like sperm and egg cells.
He found out that during meiosis, the number of chromosomes is cut in half. This is super important because when a sperm and an egg combine, the new cell gets the correct number of chromosomes.
Understanding Cell Division
Edouard Van Beneden also helped explain the main facts about mitosis. He worked with other scientists, Walther Flemming and Eduard Strasburger, on this.
Mitosis is another type of cell division. But unlike meiosis, mitosis makes two new cells that are exactly the same as the original cell. They have the same number and type of chromosomes. This is how our bodies grow and repair themselves.
His Father's Contributions
Édouard's father, Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1809–1894), was also a well-known biologist. He introduced two important ideas in the study of how living things interact and change over time.
Mutualism and Commensalism
Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden came up with the terms mutualism and commensalism.
- Mutualism is when two different living things help each other. Both benefit from the relationship.
- Commensalism is when one living thing benefits from another, but the other is not helped or harmed.
See also
