French chemist, naturalist, physician, physiologist, attorney, and socialist politician. The longest boulevard in Paris, in the 7th, 6th and 14th arrondissements, was named Boulevard Raspail in his honour, after which the Raspail Métro station takes its name.
Raspail was one of the founders of the cell theory in biology. He coined the phrase omnis cellula e cellula (“every cell is derived from a [preexisting] cell”) later attributed to Rudolf Karl Virchow. He was an early proponent of the use of the microscope in the study of plants. He was also an early advocate of the use of antiseptic(s) and better sanitation and diet. His Manuel annuaire de la santé 1834 is portrayed in the painting Nature morte avec oignons/Still life with a plate of onions by Vincent van Gogh (1889 Kroller-Muller).
A member of the republican Carbonari society, Raspail was imprisoned during Louis Philippe’s reign (1830–1848) and was a candidate for presidency of the Second Republic in December 1848. However, he was then involved in the attempted revolt of 15 May 1848 and in March 1849 was again imprisoned as a result. After Louis Napoleon’s 2 December 1851 coup his sentence was commuted to exile, from which he returned to France only in 1862. In 1869, during the liberal phase of the Second Empire (1851–1870), he was elected deputy from Lyons. He remained a popular republican during the French Third Republic, after the short-term Paris Commune in 1871.
Raspail died in Arcueil on 7 January 1878 at age 83. His sons, Benjamin Raspail (1823), Camille Raspail (1827), Émile Raspail (1831), and Xavier Raspail (1840) were also all notable figures in the Third Republic.
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