Jean Noël Hallé

Jean Noël Hallé was a French physician who lived from 1754 to 1822. Born in Paris, he was the son of the painter Noël Hallé. He taught physical medicine and health at the École de Santé and later held a chair at the Collège de France, and he belonged to the Académie Nationale de Médecine and the Académie des sciences, serving as president of the latter in 1813. He acted as first physician to Napoleon Bonaparte. Hallé is remembered above all as a pioneer of hygienic reform in France. He separated public hygiene from individual hygiene and drew attention to contagious disease, health at work and the problems of dense city living. He co-edited the 1813 Code des médicaments, a French pharmacopoeia, contributed to the Dictionnaire des Sciences médicales, investigated breast cancer, studied the effects of camphor and argued strongly for vaccination. In 1794 he spoke in defence of Antoine Lavoisier at his trial.