Roger Heim

Roger Heim (February 12, 1900 – September 17, 1979) was a French botanist specialising in mycology and tropical phytopathology. He was known for his studies describing the anatomy of the mushroom hymenium, the systematics and phylogeny of higher fungi (especially the related genera Lactarius and Russula, the Russulales and Secotium), the mycology of tropical fungi such as Termitomyces, as well as ethnomycological work on hallucinogenic fungi, like Psilocybe and Stropharia. In his career, he published over 560 articles, scientific reviews, and major works in fields like botany, chemistry, education, forestry, horticulture, liberal arts, medicine and zoology.[1]

Roger Heim
Born(1900-02-12)February 12, 1900
Paris, France
DiedSeptember 17, 1979(1979-09-17) (aged 79)
Paris, France
NationalityFrance
CitizenshipFrench
Alma materUniversity of Paris
Known forBasic work on the hymenium anatomy, systematics and phylogeny of higher fungi, tropical mycology, ethnomycology
AwardsGrand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur

Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Darwin-Wallace Medal (1958)
Honorary Member of the Mycological Society of America (1973)
Commandeur de l'Legion d'Honeur
"la Medaille de la Resistance"

"la Croix de Guerre
Scientific career
FieldsMycology, phytopathology
InstitutionsFrench National Museum of Natural History (1951–1965)
Author abbrev. (botany)R.Heim

Career

Heim studied at the École Centrale Paris (D.Sc., 1931) and Uppsala University, Sweden (Hon. Ph.D.). During World War II, he was imprisoned at Gusen concentration camp.[2] He went on to become the director of the French National Museum of Natural History, a post he held from 1951 to 1965. He involved the Museum in the conservation of nature, as he was a precursor about the environmental concern while, at this time, most of the biologists only cared about science but not about the biodiversity loss. In this period of time, he presided the 8th International Botanical Congress held in Paris in 1954. He was President of IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, from 1954 to 1958.[3] Among the many awards Heim received in his lifetime, he was a Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur and Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Heim studied with ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson in Mexico, where they collected and identified various species of family Strophariaceae and genus Psilocybe. Heim was able to later cultivate some of the hallucinogenic mushroom in his laboratory, and he and Wasson would supply mushrooms to several chemistry laboratories for analysis.[4] Albert Hofmann at Sandoz Laboratories in Basle, Switzerland, later isolated and characterized the compounds psilocybin and psilocin.

He was also a member of the French Académie d'agriculture and the Académie d'architecture.

He was awarded the Darwin-Wallace Medal in 1958 and appointed an Honorary Member of the Mycological Society of America in 1973.

Major publications
  • 1931. Le genre Inocybe, Encycl. Mycol. 1. 432 p.
  • 1938. Les Lactario-Russulés du domaine oriental de Madagascar. 196 p.
  • 1947. La sombre route (Souvenir des Camps de Concentration Nazis). 280 p.
  • 1948. Les Champignons. Tableaux d'un Monde Étrange. 143 p.
  • 1952. Destruction et Protection de la Nature. 224 p.
  • 1955. Un Naturaliste Autour du Monde. 207 p.
  • 1957. Les Champignons d'Europe, vol. 1. 327 p
  • vol. 2. 572 p.
  • 1969. 2nd ed. as one vol., 680 p.
  • 1958. (with R. Gordon Wasson). Les champignons hallucinogènes du Mexique. Paris: Editions du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle.
  • 1963. Les Champignons Toxiques et Hallucinogènes. Paris: Boubée & Cie. 320 p.
  • 2nd rev. ed in 1978. Société des Éditions Boubée. 270 p.
  • 1973. L'angoisse de l'an 2000. 398 p.
  • 1977. Termites et Champignons: Les champignons termitophiles d'Afrique Noire et d'Asie méridionale. 207 p.

Articles on psychotropic mushrooms
  • Heim R, Brack A, Kobel H, Hofmann A, Cailleux R. (1958). Déterminisme de la formation des carpophores et des sclèrotes dans la culture du Psilocybe mexicana Heim, Agaric hallucinogène du Mexique, et mise en évidence de la psilocybine et de la psilocin. Compt. rend. Acad. Sc. 246: 1346-1351.
  • Heim R, Hofmann A. (1958). Isolement de la Psilocybine à partir du Stropharia cubensis Earle et d'autres espèces de champignons hallucinogènes mexicains appartenant au genre Psilocybe. Compt. rend. Acad. sc. 247: 557-561.
  • Delay J, Pichot P, Lempérière T, Nicolas-Charles P, Heim R. (1958). Effets psycho-physiologiques de la Psilocybine. Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Sciences. 247: 1235-1238.
  • Hofmann A, Heim R, Brack A, Kobel H. (1958). Psilocybin ein psychotroper Wirkstoff aus dem mexikanischen Rauschpilz. Rev. Mycologie. 22: 17-21.
  • Hofmann A, Heim R, Brack A, Kobel H. (1958). La Psilocybine, Principe Actif Psychotrope Extrait Du Champignon Hallucinogène: Psilocybe mexicana Heim. Les champignons hallucinogènes du Mexique. p. 255-257.
  • Heim R, Brack A, Kobel H, Hofmann A, Cailleux R. (1958). Déterminisme de la formation des carpophores et des sclérotes dans la culture du Psilocybe mexicana Heim, Agaric hallucinogène du Mexique, et mise en évidence de la psilocybine et de la psilocine. Rev. Mycologie. 22: 9-16.
  • Heim R, Brack A, Kobel H, Hofmann A, Cailleux R. (1958). Déterminisme de la formation des carpophores, et éventuellement des sclérotes, dans les cultures des agarics hallucinogènes du Mexique et mise en évidence de la psilocybine et de la psilocine. Let champignons hallucinogènes du Mexique. p. 247-254.
  • Heim R, Hofmann A. (1958). Isolement de la psilocybine à partir du Stropharia cubensis Earler et d'autres espèces de champignons hallucinogènes mexicains appartenant au genre Psilocybe. Rev. Mycologie. 22: 24-28.
  • Hofmann A, Heim R, Brack A, Kobel H, Frey A, Ott H, Petrzilka T, Troxler F. (1959). Psilocybin und Psilocin, zwei psychotrope Wirkstoffe aus mexikanischen Rauschpilzen. Helv. chim. Acta. 42: 1557-1572.
  • Ola'h, G-M, Heim RM. (1968). Etude Chimiotaxinomique sur les Panaeolus. Recherches sur la présence des corps indoliques psychotropes dans ces champignons”. Comptes Rendus Acad. Sc. 267: 1369-1372.

References
  1. Batra, L.R. (1980). "Professor Roger Heim". Mycologia 72(6): 1063–1065.
  2. Pike, David Wingeate (2003). Spaniards in the Holocaust: Mauthausen, Horror on the Danube. London and New York: Routledge. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-134-58713-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Holdgate, Martin (January 1999). The green web: a union for world conservation. Earthscan. pp. 47–63. ISBN 1-85383-595-1.
  4. No author given. (1980). An Old, Bold Mushroom Hunter. Science News 118(5): 76.
  5. IPNI.  R.Heim.
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