Étienne Serres

Antoine Étienne Renaud Augustin Serres (12 September 1786, Clairac – 22 January 1868, Paris)[1] was a French physician and embryologist.

He followed a brother who died young in Paris to study medicine in 1803 and received his medical doctorate in 1808, second of eight students who completed their residentship.

He defended a thesis titled Essai sur la certitude et l’incertitude en medecine (essay on certainty and uncertainty in medicine) in 1810 which was based on the ideas of Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis (1757–1808).

Serres' scientific work was influenced by the theories of Lorenz Oken (1779–1851), Georges Cuvier (1769–1832), and especially Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772–1844).

He became interested in neurological disorders and conducted vivisection experiments in pigeons, dogs, cows, and horses to induce paralysis and apoplexy.