Noël Bernard (1874–1911): orchids to symbiosis in a dozen years, one century ago

Noel Bernard, the famous discoverer of the symbiotic germination of orchid seeds, died a one hundred years ago in 1911, at the age of 37. Here we remember his life, personality, training and contributions to science. He studied at the Ecole Normale Superieure and took courses on microbiology at the Pasteur institute. He was also an admirer of Darwin. We briefly summarize some of his inspiring research in botany, plant physiology and symbiosis, especially that on orchid seed germination and tuber formation, published over a period of only 12 years. We briefly consider his legacy and the research that has recently been published in Symbiosis, which extends the various fields of research that Noel Bernard pioneered.