Maurice Bedot

1859 - 1927, Geneva, Switzerland

No serious hydrozoan systematist can ignore the immense literature digest of M. Bedot, ranging from Linneaus up to 1910 (Bedot 1901-1926). This invaluable source will be of continued interest to all systematists for a long time to come. However, these immense works are not the only achievment of Bedot: besides numerous shorter taxonomic publications on siphonophores, hydroids, corals and more (see Revilliod 1928), he was the founder of the "Révue Suisse de Zoologie", professor at the university of Geneva and director of the Museum of Natural History of Geneva.
The following sections are extracts of the obituary of Revilliod (1928, see below) and others (kept in the library of the MHNG).
MAURICE BEDOT was born 1859 in Geneva, Switzerland. His father owned a large villa in the countryside of Geneva where young Bedot acquired the taste of natural history. He entered the university of Geneva and followed with particular interest the lectures of Carl Vogt and Herman Fol. However, Bedot realized soon, that in order to follow his interests he had to leave Geneva and go the  countries surrounding Switzerland. Hence, his first publication was on Siphonophores, a result of a five month's stay at Naples. Bedot then went to Oscar Hertwig at Jena where he investigated  the development of spinal nerves in tritons, a study he finished after returning to Geneva. Through Herman Fol, Bedot came in contact with marine animals collected at Villefranche-sur-Mer. These circumstances gave Bedot the opportunity to continue his studies on coelenterates. During a stay at Villefranche, M. Bedot met Camille Pictet, and both became close friends. The two decided to make an expedition into the Malayan archipelago with the goal to study the marine live. They boarded their ship on February 1890. After having visited Borneo, they decided to concentrate their efforts on Amboina. They both worked very hard for two months. Starting at dawn they collected material until 9 am, examined their material in the laboratory until 4 pm, and then resumed collecting until sunset. They thus obtained an enormous collection of marine animals, which they in part described themselves or handed them over to other specialists. While Bedot concentrated on the siphonophores and Scleractinia, Pictet studied the hydroids.
Two years after they had returned, Camille Picted died unexpectedly. His death affected Bedot very much and apparently induced him to re-orient his field of research. Bedot continued the study of the hydroids of the "campagnes de l'Hirondelle" that was left unfinished by Pictet. This marked the turning point for Bedots scientific work, which should be dominated in future by the taxonomy of hydroids. Maurice Bedot regularly went to Roscoff to collect material and he published several papers on various taxa of the Plumularoidea. Bedots most important works, however, are certainly his compilation of the complete literature on hydroids and hydromedusae from the very beginnings of binomial taxonomy to 1910.
Bedot died August 1927 in his home near Geneva.

References (only some of Bedot's publications are included!):

Bedot M. (1901) Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire des hydroïdes. 1re période.  Revue Suisse de Zoologie 9  (3): 379-515.

Bedot M. (1905) Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire des hydroïdes. 2me période (1821-1850).Revue Suisse de Zoologie 13  (1): 1-183.

Bedot M. (1907) Madréporaires d'Amboine.Revue Suisse de Zoologie 15 : 143-292, plates 5-50.

Bedot M. (1910) Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire des hydroïdes. 3me période (1851-1871).Revue Suisse de Zoologie 18  (2): 189-489.

Bedot M. (1911) Notes sur les hydroïdes de Roscoff. Archs Zool. exp. gén 6 : 201-228,  plate 1.

Bedot M. (1912) Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire des hydroïdes. 4me période (1872-1880). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 20 : 213-469.

Bedot M. (1916a) Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire des hydroïdes. 5me période (1881-1890). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 24 : 1-349.

Bedot M. (1916b) Sur le genre Kirchenpaueria.Revue Suisse de Zoologie 24  (11): 637-648.

Bedot M. (1917a) Le genre Antennella. Revue suisse Zoologie 25  (5): 111-129.

Bedot M. (1917b) Le genre Nemertesia. Mém. Soc. Phys. Hist. nat. Genève 39  (1): 15-52.

Bedot M. (1918) Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire des hydroïdes. 6e période (1891-1900). Revue suisse Zool. 26, supplement : 1-376.

Bedot M. (1921) Hydroïdes provenant des campagnes des yachts Hirondelle et Princesse-Alice (1887-1912). I. Plumularidae. Rés. Camp. scient. Prince Albert I de Monaco 60 : 1-73, plates 1-6.

Bedot M. (1925) Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire des hydroides. 7me période (1901-1910). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 32  (Fasc. Suppl.): 1-657.

Pictet C. and Bedot M. (1900) Hydraires provenant des campagnes de l'Hirondelle  (1886-1888). Rés. Camp. Sci. Prince Albert 1er de Monaco 18 : 1-59.

Revilliod P. (1928) Maurice Bedot, 1859-1927. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 35  (1): 1-16, plate.