Professor of Anatomy, McGill University, since 1948
Charles Philippe Leblond was born in France, and received his MD from the University of Paris and DSc from the Sorbonne. He earned his PhD at McGill U., Canada, in 1942. In 1946, Leblond with L. F. Bélanger improved the resolution of radioautography. Photographic emulsion was melted and poured on the tissue section so as to make a thin coat that hardened as it cooled and acted as a photographic plate to the radioactive parts of the tissue section. The method became widely utilized as a tool in cell study and is now used in the electron microscope. The method can trace the activity of substances in the body. Leblond's own experiments challenged much of established cell theory at that time. For example, he demonstrated that cells are continuously active, and do not alternate between repose and activity, as was thought. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize and received many honorary degrees, awards and recognitions, including the Gairdner Foundation Award of Merit and the Royal Society of Canada's Flavelle Medal in 1961. Chrmn. Dept. Anatomy, 1957-74. Leblond has four children with his wife, Gertrude.
Sources: American Men in Science; Canadian Who's Who (1993); The McGill Reporter, Jan. 25, 1996
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