Pierre Paul Dehérain

Who was Pierre Paul Dehérain?

Pierre Paul Dehérain is notably the doctoral advisor of the Nobel Prize winner Henri Moissan.

Dehérain was a plant physiologist and studied the absorption of carbon dioxide by plants and the effect of artificial light, especially ultra violet rays, on plants. He showed that plants do not absorb only those minerals that are beneficial, as previously thought, but absorb all of them and then use those that they need - so that consumption regulates absorption. He discovered respiration by plant roots and investigated the effect of different minerals on the growth of fruits. He also studied effect of crop rotation on soil quality.

He obtained his LSc degree in 1856 under Edmond Frémy.

The plant genus Deherainia from the family Theophrastaceae is named after him.