biology

Patrick Forterre

Patrick Forterre is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Patrick Forterre rather than just read about it. In short: Patrick Forterre (French pronunciation: [patʁik fɔʁtɛʁ], born 21 August 1949) is a French biologist and writer. He had served as professor at Paris-Sud University and Pasteur Institute.

Key takeaways

Patrick Forterre belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Patrick Forterre to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Patrick Forterre from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Patrick Forterre (French pronunciation: [patʁik fɔʁtɛʁ], born 21 August 1949) is a French biologist and writer. He had served as professor at Paris-Sud University and Pasteur Institute. He is known for his work on Archaea, viruses and the evolution of life. He was the first to use the acronym "LUCA" for the last universal common ancestor in a 1997 paper.

Biography Forterre was born in Paris. He studied biochemistry at the Paris VII University (Paris Diderot University later incorporated to Paris Cité University), Jussieu campus. He joined the faculty of Paris VII University from 1973 as research assistant (equivalent to assistant professor) teaching cell and molecular biology. In 1986, he was promoted to associate professor. In 1989, he was appointed full professor at University XI (Paris-Sud University). In 1988, he became head of a research team at the Institute of Genetics and Microbiology (IGM) in Orsay and directed research on Archaea, the new group of organisms discovered in 1977 by Carl Woese. In 2003, he joined the Pasteur Institute as Director of Microbiology Department, and designated professor in 2014. He was then conferred honorary professorship at Paris-Sud University. Patrick Forterre is particularly known for his theories on evolution, contributions to the virus world hypothesis, and his stances on the recognition of viruses as living beings in their own right. He worked as a scientist in the documentary film Species of Species, produced in 2008. Forterre was elected member of the European Academy of Microbiology in 2015 and the Academia Europaea in 2017.

Scientific articles Patrick Forterre, Simonetta Gribaldo & Céline Brochier : (Luca: in search of the nearest universal common ancestor) Archived 2016-12-13 at the Wayback Machine (Luca : à la recherche du plus proche ancêtre commun universel), Médecine / Sciences, vol. 21, n°10, 2005, pp. 860–865 Simonetta Gribaldo, Patrick Forterre et Céline Brochier-Armanet : The Archaea: evolution and diversity of the third domain of life Archived 2013-05-31 at the Wayback Machine (Les Archaea : évolution et diversité du troisième domaine du vivant, Bull. Soc. Fr. Microbiol., vol. 23, n°3, 2008, pp. 137–145 Patrick Forterre, Viruses back on the scene (Les virus à nouveau sur le devant de la scène), Biologie Aujourd’hui, vol.207, n°3, Société de biologie, 13 décembre 2013, pp. 153–168 doi:10.1051/jbio/2013018 Patrick Forterre, The Viral Cell Cog of Life, (La cellule virale rouage de la vie), Pour la Science, n°469, special issue: Le nouveau monde des microbes, Novembre 2016, pp. 42–49 text=résumé

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Patrick Forterre

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Patrick Forterre claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Patrick Forterre before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Patrick Forterre ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Patrick Forterre

In research: Patrick Forterre appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Patrick Forterre in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Patrick Forterre is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1949 births, 20th-century French biologists, 20th-century French non-fiction writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Patrick Forterre outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Patrick Forterre in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Patrick Forterre means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Patrick Forterre out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Patrick Forterre in simple terms?

Patrick Forterre (French pronunciation: [patʁik fɔʁtɛʁ], born 21 August 1949) is a French biologist and writer. He had served as professor at Paris-Sud University and Pasteur Institute.

Why does Patrick Forterre matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Patrick Forterre?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Patrick Forterre.