René Joachim Henri Dutrochet

Born Nov. 14, 1776, in Poitou; died Feb. 4, 1847, in Paris. French biologist. Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1831).

Dutrochet was educated as a physician. In studying the anatomic structures of plants and animals, he developed ideas that anticipated cell theory. His researches in plant physiology refuted the fundamental propositions of vitalism. He explained the absorption of water and of substances dissolved in it by plants and the movement of sap by the laws of osmosis; he connected the role of stomata with plant respiration; and he discovered the mechanism of the movement of mimosa leaves.