Antoine Marcellin Bernard Lacassagne (August 29, 1884, Villerest – December 16, 1971, Paris) was a French physician and biologist, a pioneer in radiology and cancer research.
He was the older brother of the dermatologist and medical historian Jean Lacassagne [fr] (1886–1960), and his sister Jeanne married histologist Albert Policard.
Claudius Regaud then offered Lacassagne to become his assistant in Paris, where he had just been appointed to lead the Radium Institute alongside Marie Curie.
[2] In 1919, he resumed his work at the Pasteur Laboratory of the Radium Institute alongside Claudius Regaud, with whom he formed a team that developed techniques for cancer treatment using ionizing radiation.
He left three letters explaining his suicide, one of which was addressed to L'Express and published, in which he stated, "I have made a recent error in judgment that I cannot survive.
"[3][2] After receiving numerous awards from the Academy of Sciences, he was honored in 1962 with one of the awards created by the United Nations General Assembly "for his extensive work over a long research career in the field of cancer, including significant contributions related to radiology in relation to cancer, the role of estrogens in the etiology of breast tumors, and the role of hydrocarbons in carcinogenesis.