Corentin Louis Kervran

Corentin Louis Kervran (3 March 1901 – 2 February 1983) was a French scientist. Kervran was born in Quimper, Finistère (Brittany), and received a degree as an engineer in 1925. In World War II he was part of the French Resistance.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Kervran proposed that nuclear transmutation occurs in living organisms, which he called "biological transmutation".<ref name="Schwarcz 2014">Schwarcz, Joe. (2014). Is that a Fact?: Frauds, Quacks, and the Real Science of Everyday Life. ECW Press. pp. 40-43. Template:ISBN</ref> He made this claim after experimenting with chickens, which he believed showed that they were generating calcium in their eggshells while there was no calcium in their food or soil. He had no known scientific explanation for it. Such transmutations are not possible according to known physics, chemistry, and biology.<ref name="Schwarcz 2014"/> Proponents of biological transmutations fall outside mainstream physics and are not part of accepted scientific discourse.<ref name=tibor /><ref>Template:Citation</ref> Kervran's ideas about biological transmutation have no scientific basis and are considered discredited.<ref name="Schwarcz 2014"/>

Biological transmutation

Template:Redirect In the 1960s, Kervran claimed to have conducted experiments and studies demonstrating violations of the law of conservation of mass by biological systems, according to which the amount of each chemical element is preserved in all chemical reactions. He claimed that organisms can transmute potassium into calcium by nuclear fusion in the course of making an eggshell:

Template:Nuclide + Template:Nuclide → Template:Nuclide

Since biological systems do not contain mechanisms to produce the speed, temperature, and pressure necessary for such reactions, even for extremely short periods, this contradicts basic physical laws.<ref name=tibor>Template:Citation</ref>

Kervran said that prior studies and reports of industrial carbon monoxide accidents supported his work.<ref>Louis C. Kervran Preuves en Biologie de Transmutations à Faible Énergie, Paris 1975, Maloine, Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Kervran said that enzymes can facilitate biological transmutations using the weak nuclear force, by what he called "neutral currents."<ref>Louis Kervran, "Biological evidence of low energy transmutations", Maloine, 1975 (See "Final Note" by Costa de Beauregard)</ref> His response to criticism was to claim that physical laws do not apply to biological reactions, which contradicts the mainstream understanding that physical laws apply for all scales and conditions.<ref name=tibor />

Kervran suggested that under the right conditions, potassium could combine with hydrogen to form calcium.<ref name="Schwarcz 2014"/> He questioned how chickens fed a diet of oats could produce eggshells composed of calcium carbonate and concluded that the potassium in the oats must combine with hydrogen to produce the calcium.<ref name="Schwarcz 2014"/> He considered this a "low-energy transmutation" which became known as the "Kervran effect". There is no scientific basis for such an effect.<ref name="Schwarcz 2014"/>

Italian researchers who studied Kervran's theory in controlled conditions observed no transmutation.<ref name="Schwarcz 2014"/> Contrary to what Kervran argued, oats are not devoid of calcium. If there isn't enough calcium in a chicken's diet, they will mobilize calcium from their bones.<ref name="Schwarcz 2014"/> In modern times, chicken feed is often supplemented to ensure adequate calcium intake. Science writer Joe Schwarcz has written that "the bottom line is that the Kervran effect doesn't exist... [he] simply came to the wrong conclusion based on some faulty observations."<ref name="Schwarcz 2014"/>

In 1993, Kervran was awarded a parodic Ig Nobel prize in Physics due to his "improbable research" in biological transmutation. The award description called him an "ardent admirer of alchemy."<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Organic farming

Organic farmers Raoul Lemaire (1884–1972) and Jean Boucher promoted Kervran's discredited theory of biological transmutation, incorporating it into the Lemaire-Boucher organic farming method in the 1960s.<ref name="Bivar 2018">Bivar, Venus. (2018). Organic Resistance: The Struggle Over Industrial Farming in Postwar France. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 128-130. Template:ISBN</ref> They argued that their Lithothamnion-based fertilizer known as Calmagol underwent biological transmutation by transitioning calcium into potassium.<ref name="Bivar 2018"/><ref name="Jakobsson 2012">Jakobsson, Christine. (2012). Sustainable Agriculture. Baltic University Press. pp. 260-261. Template:ISBN</ref> Kervran took an interest in organic farming and was a contributor to Henri-Charles Geffroy's La Vie Claire magazine.<ref name="Bivar 2018"/> Kervran's biological transmutation also influenced the macrobiotic diet of George Ohsawa.<ref name="Jakobsson 2012"/> His book Biological Transmutations was first translated by Michel Abehsera, an Ohsawa disciple, in 1972.<ref>Raso, Jack. (1993). Mystical Diets: Paranormal, Spiritual, and Occult Nutrition Practices. Prometheus Books. p. 27. Template:ISBN</ref>

Books

In French:

• Transmutations Biologiques: Métabolismes Aberrants de l'Azote, le Potassium et le Magnésium (1962) Paris : Librairie Maloine S.A. (2nd ed. 1963, 3rd ed. 1965)
• Transmutations naturelles non radioactives; une propriete nouvelle de la matiere Paris : Librairie Maloine, (1963) Template:OCLC
• Transmutations à la faible énergie : synthèse et développements (1964) Paris : Maloine Template:OCLC
• A la découverte des transmutations biologiques : une explication des phénomènes biologiques aberrants (1966) Paris : Le Courrier du livre Template:OCLC
• Preuves Relatives à l'Existence des Transmutations Biologiques (1968) Paris : Librairie Maloine S.A.
• Transmutations biologiques en agronomie (1970) Paris : Librairie Maloine S.A.
• Preuves en géologie et physique de transmutations à faible énergie (1973) Paris : Maloine Template:ISBN Template:OCLC
• Preuves en biologie de transmutations à faible énergie (1975) Paris, Maloine, S.A. Template:ISBN Template:OCLC, (2nd edition, 1995).
• Transmutations Biologique et Physique Moderne (1982) Paris : Librairie Maloine S.A.

English translations:

• Biological Transmutations C. Louis Kervran, translation and adaptation by Michel Abehsera, 1989, 1998 (first published in 1972) Template:ISBN Template:OCLC (extract of three of Kervran's books)
• Biological transmutations, revised and edited by Herbert & Elizabeth Rosenauer, London, Crosby Lockwood 1972 (reprinted by Beekman, New York, in 1998 under Template:ISBN)
• Biological Transmutation. Natural Alchemy. Louis Kervran and George Ohsawa, George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation, Oroville, California, USA 1971 (reprinted 1975, 1976) 48 pages.

See also

• Cold fusion

Further reading

• Corentin Louis Kervran: "Hors-d'œuvre", an autobiographical note in Preuves en Biologie de Transmutations a Faible Energie Paris: Maloine S.A., 1975