Louis Jurine (6 February 1751 – 20 October 1819) was a Swiss physician, surgeon and naturalist mainly interested in entomology. He lived in Geneva.

Surgeon

He studied surgery in Paris and quickly acquired a great reputation for his expertise in medicine and natural history beyond that which he had in Geneva. He taught courses in anatomy and surgery at the Société des Arts in Geneva and was made honorary professor of zoology at the Academy (today: University of Geneva). He also founded a maternity hospice in 1807 and was awarded prizes for his work on the gasses of the human body, artificial feeding of infants, and pectoral angina.

Naturalist

Upon learning of Spallanzani's experiments with bats, in which Spallanzani showed that bats do not rely on sight when navigating in darkness, Jurine conducted a series of experiments from which he concluded that bats use sound to navigate in darkness.

Collections

Jurine’s collections of Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Hemiptera are in the Natural History Museum of Geneva.

Works