Felix Vicq-D'Azyr

Felix Vicq-D’Azyr was born in Valognes, Normandy in 1748. In 1765, he studied in Paris under comparative anatomist Louis Daubenton and surgeon Antoine Petit. He graduated from the Paris Medical School in 1772, giving lectures on human and animal anatomy. After moving back to Normandy due to sickness, he studied fish, birds and quadrupeds, earning him admission to the Academie des Sciences in 1774. He managed a cattle epidemic in the southern provinces, which led to his widespread celebrity and the foundation of the ‘Societe Royale de Medecine’ in 1776, of which he was made permanent secretary. In 1788, he was elected into the ‘Academic Francaise’, the highest scientific honour in the country, and was made the First Physician of Queen Marie Antoinette in 1789. He spent his last years as a military physician. He died 20 June 1794.