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Claude Bernard invented metabolic research. He was born in 1813 in the small village of St. Julien en Beaujolais near Villefranche-sur-Saône. When he worked as an apprentice in a pharmacy in Lyon, he dreamt of becoming a writer, but finally started to study medicine in Paris. The beginning of his career was difficult, his salary as a researcher was miserable, and only an arranged marriage enabled him to dedicate his time to science. However, he was later appointed Professor at the Sorbonne and the Collège de France. His most important discovery was the unveiling of carbohydrate metabolism – he published this major discovery in 1848 “about the origin of sugar.” In 1855 he discovered and “baptized” glycogen. His book Introduction into Experimental Medicine (1865) was his intellectual masterpiece. Claude Bernard explained the principles of biomedical research, and much of the text is still relevant today. His remarks regarding pharmacotherapy can still serve as an introduction to today’s textbooks on “evidence-based medicine.”

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On July 12, 1813, in the castle of Trachenberg, Silesia, Tsar Alexander I of Russia, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, and Bernadotte, later Karl XIV of Sweden, met and agreed on the “Trachenberg Plan” against Napoleon Bonaparte, an agreement that would eventually conclude with the “Battle of the Nations” in Leipzig, which ushered in the end of an era.

That same day, a man who started a new epoch in science was born. In the village of Saint-Julien near Villefranche-sur-Saône in the Beaujolais region, Pierre Jean-François Bernard appeared before the mayor and declared that between 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning of that day there was born to him, by his wife Jeanne Saulnier, an infant to whom he wanted to give the name Claude. He was their only son; a daughter was born later.

Claude Bernard grew up in a small old house which can today be visited by tourists (Fig. 1). The priest of the parish recommended the boy to be admitted to the Jesuit College of Villefranche, which he attended until the age of 18 years. Here he was taught Latin and French, but no other modern language. During his later life he always relied on the assistance of others to translate publications into French. He himself published exclusively in French, which in those days was not an obstacle for the career of a French scientist.

Fig. 1. The house where Claude Bernard was born (photo Dr. V. Jörgens).

When he was 18 years old the family could no longer afford to keep their son at school. In January 1832, he found employment in a pharmacy in Lyon where the pharmacist sold a “remedy” containing up to 60 different drugs including opium. Claude was astounded when he noticed that the pharmacist took a lot of liberty with the formula of the drug which was considered to cure nearly everything. This experience must have awoken, for the first time, his objections against “empirical” medicine.

In Lyon, Claude frequently went to the Théatre des Célestines, where operettas and comedies were presented. He even composed a musical comedy himself entitled “La rose du Rhone” which, apparently, had some success – he earned 100 francs from it. Sadly this “Rose du Rhone” was never printed. Following this achievement, Claude embarked on a bigger project, a classical tragedy with the title “Anne de Bretagne.” He decided to leave the pharmacy in Lyon and travelled to Paris with dreams of a dazzling career as an author. As for the journey itself, it was sluggish, by horse-drawn carriage. Times were changing however, and just a decade later he would be able to take the train to his hometown.