Pol Bouin

Pol André Bouin was a French histologist and reproductive endocrinologist, born in Vendresse on 11 June 1870 into a family of veterinarians and died on 5 February 1962. He studied medicine at Nancy, was influenced by Auguste Prenant, and received his doctorate in medicine in 1897. He worked as a histology preparator, became a professor of anatomy in 1898 and in 1908 succeeded Prenant in the chair of histology at Nancy. He is best known for Bouin solution, the fixative that bears his name. He ran many experiments in reproductive endocrinology, and in 1929 showed that lactation could be induced in rabbits without ovaries by giving anterior pituitary extract, before prolactin had been identified. In 1932 he published Elements d'histologie.