Biography

Swiss physician and bryologist, Henri Bernet was the son of Martin Bernet, a botanist in Geneva. Henri was born in Schiers, Grisons, and moved to Geneva in 1853 when his father found work there. Having studied in the College and Gymnasium of Geneva he began training for a career in medicine. Moving to Iéna he studied at the university there and sometimes worked in the laboratory at Strasbourg. In 1876 Bernet graduated as a doctor of medicine and, after a brief trip to Berlin, he settled once more in Geneva where he developed a reputation as an expert in respiratory ailments.

Studying his speciality he often took long trips to Vienna and Berlin in order to conduct research in their laboratories. As the son of a botanist, Bernet also took the time to collect plants in the regions surrounding Geneva, often together with Martin Bernet, particularly in the Leman basin region. Like his father, Henri Bernet was particularly interested in the mosses and he discovered several new species. Also visiting the Valais with V. Payot, after much travelling he managed to publish by far his most important work, a Catalogue des Hépatiques du Sud-ouest de la Suisse et de la Haute-Savoie in 1888. Bernet died in Lausanne in 1904 and his herbarium, along with that of his father, was acquired by William Barbay for the Boissier herbarium. It is uncertain whether the Bernet specimens at BM belonged to Henri or to his father.

Sources:
J. Briquet, 1940, "Biographies des Botanistes a Genève", Bulletin de la Société Botanique Suisse, 50a: 39-40
Herbier Brun, Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques Ville de Genève:
http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/herbier_crypto09.php, accessed 10 September 2010.