Alfred Mathieu Giard

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Alfred Mathieu Giard (1846–1908) was a French zoologist from Valenciennes who taught in Lille and later in Paris. He specialized in parasites and how they interact with their hosts. The Giardia lamblia parasite is named after him (and Czech doctor Lambl) for his work on it. Giard founded the Wimereux biological station in 1874 to help students study marine and land life and helped build an active zoology program in Lille. He popularized the study of animal behaviour and described new groups such as Orthonectida.

He introduced the term anhydrobiosis, supported Darwinian ideas (which he called transformism), and edited the Bulletin scientifique de France et de Belgique that he started in 1888. Giard also studied crustaceans, especially parasitic isopods in the Epicaridea and Bopyridae families, and wrote many papers on entomology. He mentored students like Félix Le Dantec, leaving a lasting impact on zoology and parasitology.