 gÃ©rard paul deshayes (may 13, 1795 â june 9, 1875) was a french geologist and conchologist. he was born in nancy, his father at that time being professor of experimental physics in the Ãcole centrale of the dÃ©partement meurthe he studied medicine in strasbourg, and afterwards took the degree of bachelier Ã¨s lettres in paris in 1821; but he abandoned the medical profession in order to devote himself to natural history. for some time he gave private lessons on geology, and subsequently became professor of natural history in the museum d'histoire naturelle. he was distinguished for his researches on the fossil mollusca of the paris basin and of other areas cenozoic cover. his studies on the relations of the fossil to the recent species led him as early as 1829 to conclusions somewhat similar to those arrived at by lyell, to whom deshayes rendered much assistance in connection with the classification of the, then, tertiary system into eocene, miocene and pliocene.google books the age of mammals in europe, asia and north america by henry fairfield osborngoogle books early life: the cambrian period by thom holmes with andrÃ© Ãtienne d'audebert de fÃ©russac, he co-authored an important study on terrestrial and river mollusks titled histoire naturelle gÃ©nÃ©rale et particuliÃ¨re des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles (1820-1851).worldcat title histoire naturelle gÃ©nÃ©rale et particuliÃ¨re des mollus
1795_births 1875_deaths Conchologists French_geologists French_malacologists People_from_Nancy,_France Wollaston_Medal_winners