Joseph Guichard Duverney

Joseph Guichard Duverney (1648 to 1730), also written Joseph-Guichard Du Verney, was a French anatomist known for his work in comparative anatomy and for his treatise on the ear. The Duverney fracture of the iliac wing of the pelvis is named after him. A native of Feurs in Forez, the son of a local doctor, he took his medical degree at the University of Avignon in 1667 and soon moved to Paris, where he joined the circle of the abbot Bourdelot and met Claude Perrault. He became known for assiduous dissections, and in 1676 he became the anatomist at the Royal Academy of Sciences, succeeding Louis Gayant and Jean Pecquet. He dissected a wide range of animals, including fish with Philippe de La Hire, received animals from the royal menagerie, and in 1681 dissected an elephant from the court of Louis XIV. In 1682 he became demonstrator of anatomy at the Jardin du Roi. He is considered by many the founder of scientific otology, and his students included Jacques-Bénigne Winslow and Jean-Baptiste Sénac. He bequeathed his specimens to the Academy.