Paul Héger

Life and work

The story behind the role.

Belgian biologist (1846–1925).

Paul Marie François Xavier Heger, also spelled Héger (13 December 1846 – 8 November 1925) was a Belgian scientist. He is famous for his collaboration with the chemist Ernest Solvay to discover the Solvay Process. Alongside Solvay, he donated a large sum of money to fund Leopold Park and helped establish the Solvay Institute of Physiology and Institute of Sociology. Additionally, he made substantial contributions to the understanding of blood circulation, especially in the context of artificial circulation, demonstrating that the vascular endothelium actively participates in circulation and osmosis, challenging the view of blood vessels as passive conduits. He also discovered that adding nicotine to circulating blood increases blood flow speed through living tissues. Heger also made contributions to the understanding of liver function. He found that the liver significantly reduces alkaloid concentration in blood, highlighting its role in detoxification. Additionally, he showed that alkaloids are broken down into less toxic components within the liver, emphasising its purifying function and its capacity to locate and store poisons.

Encyclopaedic excerpts from Paul Heger; shortened for length and available under CC BY-SA 4.0.