title: Victor Henri: 111 years of his equation.
abstract: Victor Henri's great contribution to the understanding of enzyme kinetics and mechanism is not always given the credit that it deserves. In addition, his earlier work in experimental psychology is totally unknown to biochemists, and his later work in spectroscopy and photobiology almost equally so. Applying great rigour to his analysis he succeeded in obtaining a model of enzyme action that explained all of the observations available to him, and he showed why the considerable amount of work done in the preceding decade had not led to understanding. His view was that only physical chemistry could explain the behaviour of enzymes, and that models should be judged in accordance with their capacity not only to explain previously known facts but also to predict new observations against which they could be tested. The kinetic equation usually attributed to Michaelis and Menten was in reality due to him. His thesis of 1903 is now available in English.
authors.affiliation: CNRS-BIP, Aix-Marseille Université, 31 chemin Joseph-Aiguier, B.P. 71, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France. Electronic address: acornish@imm.cnrs.fr.
authors.forename: Athel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cornish-Bowden
authors.affiliation: CNRS-UMR 5095, 1 Rue Camille Saint Saëns, 33077 Bordeaux Cedex, France; University of Bordeaux, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mazat
authors.affiliation: INSERM UMR S894, Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Descartes, Laboratoire Mémoire et Cognition, 71 avenue Edouard Vaillant, 92774 Boulogne-Billancourt Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nicolas
mesh_terms: D001671:Biochemistry / Q000266:history*; D004798:Enzymes / Q000737:chemistry*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D018462:Photobiology / Q000266:history; D011584:Psychology / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D043324:beta-Fructofuranosidase / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D043324:beta-Fructofuranosidase
keywords: Enzyme kinetics; Experimental psychology; Invertase; Spectroscopy; Victor Henri