René Thomas (biologist)

A series of testimonies and tribute articles can be found in a special issue of the Journal of Theoretical Biology dedicated to the memory of René Thomas and published in 2019.

Thomas' career was attested by a number of prestigious awards, including the Francqui prize in 1975, the five-year prize of the Belgian National Funds for Scientific Research (FNRS) in 1985 for his discoveries on DNA, genetic transformation of bacteria and bacteriophages and the Grande Médaille from the French Academy of Sciences in 1999. He was elected as a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium in 1986.

After two years of postdoctoral training in the laboratories of Harriet Ephrussi (Paris, France, 1953-1954) and of Alfred Hershey (Cold Spring Harbour, USA, 1957-1958), Thomas returned to ULB in 1958, where he was appointed to lecture on Genetics. In 1961, he was appointed director of the Laboratory of Genetic of the ULB.

At ULB, Thomas attended lectures by Jean Brachet, who pioneered the field of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and their role in heredity and protein synthesis. Under Brachet's supervision, Thomas prepared and defended a PhD thesis on the denaturation of DNA in 1952.

René Thomas (14 May 1928 (Ixelles) - 9 January 2017 (Rixensart) was a Belgian scientist. His research included DNA biochemistry and biophysics, genetics, mathematical biology, and finally dynamical systems. He devoted his life to the deciphering of key logical principles at the basis of the behaviour of biological systems, and more generally to the generation of complex dynamical behaviour. He was professor and laboratory head at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and taught and inspired several generations of researchers.

René Thomas was born on 14 May 1928, in Brussels, Belgium. His parents were the poet Lucien-Paul Thomas and Marieke Vandenbergh. He was the youngest of three siblings further including Anny and André Thomas. René Thomas was the father of three children: Isabelle, Pierre and Anne. He spent his childhood in La Hulpe, Belgium. Very young, he was already fascinated by biology and published his first scientific article at the age of 13 years old. He continued his studies at the Royal Athenaeum of Ixelles (Brussels), and at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where he studied chemistry.