Great Entomologists: Auguste-Henri Forel

More great entomologists from Ontogeny. Click here to read the entry on Auguste-Henri Forel.

I had such a fun time looking up random facts about Fabre. So of course I did the same for Forel. The coolest fact so far (at least to me) is that we share the same birthday! He also suffered a stroke at the age of 64 that paralyzed his right side, but taught himself to write with his left hand and was able to continue his studies (that'll teach me to complain about a cold). He seems to have been an outspoken socialist and rationalist who eventually converted to the Bahá'í faith. From a Historical Neuroscience paper entitled "Auguste Forel on Ants and Neurology." (see below)

In 1920, Forel made his first acquaintance with the supraconfessional world-religion of the Bahá’i, founded in the middle of the 19th century by the Persian Bahá `u` lláh. The Bahá’i faith, which advocates the abolition of all sexual, racial, national and religious prejudices and wishes to harmonize the scientific mind with social and cultural concepts, was particularly appealing to Forel. The following excerpt from his testament is particularly revealing: “It is the true religion of the welfare of human society, it has neither priests nor dogmas, and it binds together all the human beings who inhabit this little globe. I have become a Bahá’i. May this religion continue and be crowned with success; this is my most ardent wish”.3 Forel’s faith was rewarded by a “Tablet” that was written for him by Bahá `u` lláh himself and which is still considered today by the Bahá’is as one of the most weighty epistle their Master ever wrote. Amazingly, this letter is perhaps the most widespread document related to Forel available today on Internet.

Click here for a Historical Neuroscience paper entitled "Auguste Forel on Ants and Neurology."

Click here for the ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ’S TABLET TO DR. FOREL

Click here for a shortened version of a considerably larger essay calling Dr. Forel "one of the most unappreciated figures in modern world psychiatry."