Corneille Jean François Heymans

Corneille Jean François Heymans was born on 28 March 1892 in Ghent, Belgium.

His father, JF. Heymans, was professor of pharmacology and rector of the University of Ghent, where he set up an Institute of Pharmacology and Theology.

Corneille Jean François Heymans studied medicine in Ghent, where he obtained his doctorate in 1920. He then worked at the Collège de France à Paris, à the University of Lausanne, à the University of Vienna, at University College London and à the Western Reserve Medical School.

In 1922, he became assistant master in pharmacodynamics at the University of Ghent. Eight years later, he succeeded his father as professor of pharmacology. He was appointed Director of the Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacodynamics and Toxicology.

His scientific research is conducted mainly at the Heymans Institute, which he also heads. They focus on the physiology and pharmacology of respiration, blood circulation, metabolism and various other pharmacological issues.

In particular, his studies have led to the discovery of chemoreceptors located in the cardio-aortic zone and in the carotid sinus zone, as well as contributions on proprioceptive regulation, arterial pressure and hypertension. It was his discoveries relating to respiration that won Heymans the Nobel Prize in 1938.

Another series of research projects focused on the physiology of cerebral circulation and the pathophysiology of arterial hypertension. He also studies blood circulation during muscular effort, the physiology and pharmacology of sympathectomised animals, the survival of nerve centres after a blood circulation arrest, etc.

A prolific author, Heymans wrote over 800 articles during his career, published in various journals.

Elected President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences and the International Council of Pharmacologists, he is also a member of an impressive number of scientific societies throughout the world. A distinguished scholar, he was awarded honorary doctorates from the Universities of Utrecht, Louvain, Montpellier, Turin, Santiago de Chile, Lima, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro, Algiers, Paris, Münster, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Georgetown and Washington.

Corneille Jean François Heymans died in 1968.