Paul Delaunay

Paul-Marie Delaunay (16 February 1878 – 3 February 1958) was a French physician and historian. A distinguished humanist, he read Latin and Greek in the text. He was also a passionate bibliophile. A collector, he was interested in botany, geology and natural history, and was a regular visitor to the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

Biography

Paul Delaunay was born in Mayenne, the son of Adolphe-François Delaunay, a clerk at the civil court in Mayenne and a member of the Cercle Littéraire in 1873, and Angèle-Marthe Boëteau. He came from a modest family in the Le Mans region: his paternal grandfather was a clogmaker, his maternal grandfather a watchmaker and jeweller.

He studied at the minor seminary in Mayenne, then at the Collège Stanislas in Paris, before entering the Faculty of Medicine in Paris. He wrote his medical thesis in 1906 and was awarded the Prix Hugo with honourable mention by the National Academy of Medicine. He practised in Le Mans from 1906 until his death.

He was president of the Société nationale française d'histoire de la médecine, a member of Mayenne-Sciences, the Société d'agriculture, sciences et arts de la Sarthe and many other associations. He was awarded the War Cross, Knight of the Legion of Honour and Officer of the Order of Academic Palms.

Paul Delaunay died at Le Mans at the age of 79.

Private life

He married Marie-Louise Guittet in Le Mans on 4 February 1907. Paul Delaunay had a brother who was an abbot. His three daughters lived in Le Mans.

Works

His many works are deposited in the Le Mans Library. A list of his works will give you an idea of how prolific he was, writing in a pleasant, sometimes mischievous style. Jean Rostand wrote of him: "This fine work will defy the test of time and will always be consulted by historians, who will find in it an irreplaceable source of information and a lesson in elegant completion, rigour and independence".

References

• Buchet, Charles (1922). "Les historiens du jour: M. le Docteur Paul Delaunay, du Mans", Bulletin de la Société d'histoire de la pharmacie, Vol. X, No. 34, pp. 58–64.
• Huard, Pierre; Jean Théodoridès (1959). "Paul Delaunay (1878-1958)," Revue d'histoire des sciences et de leurs applications, Vol. XII, No. 3, pp. 263–66.

External links

• Works by Paul Delaunay at Persée
• Works by Paul Delaunay at Gallica
• Works by Paul Delaunay at JSTOR
• Works by Paul Delaunay at Hathi Trust
• Works by Paul Delaunay at Open Library