Madeleine Bastide

Madeleine Bastide, Professor of Immunology at University of Montpellier 1, one of the most remarkable personalities in homeopathic research, born in March 18, 1935 in Bourg en Bresse, France, died on June 10, 2007 in Montpellier.

Madeleine studied Pharmacy at the University of Montpellier, earning several degrees. In 1958 she was appointed Assistant Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Pharmacy, researching on the metabolism of Mycobacteria, which was the subject of her doctoral dissertation. In 1968 she was appointed Master Assistant in Bacteriology and Immunology and in 1979, Head Professor. Since then, she devoted herself to teaching and research. She created and developed the course of Immunology at the Faculty of Pharmacy, whose outstanding quality, as well as her communication skills, were enthusiastically appreciated by the students. She developed several lines of research in Neuroimmunology, Immunopharmacology and Medical Mycology, but soon her activities were concentrated in two main fields: the noxious effects of mobile phones and the scientific validation of the effectiveness of Homeopathy.

She showed that chicken embryos exposed to the waves emitted by mobile phones had higher mortality than the control group. These results—not necessarily valid for the human species—were objected by the industry lobby, which saw them as a threat. But Madeleine was not intimidated and continued her work, defending her ideas in international meetings, interviews and TV shows. Her courage and persistence were fruitful. A European mobile phone operator asked her to organize a study to be conducted at three different international laboratories. The results were confirmed and her recommendations to protect users were published.

She was appointed Adviser to the National Commission of Pharmacopoea, of the French Agency for Health Safety and Prevention, as well as at the European Parliament in Brussels. Madeleine Bastide was a member of several scientific societies, including the Society for In vitro Biology, the French Society of Medical Mycology, the International Society of Immunopharmacology, the International Society of Neuroimmunology and the International Society of Neuroimmunomodulation.

Her remarkable scientific production exceeds 300 papers and communications, 145 conferences in French and international scientific and official meetings, including the French Drug Agency, the French National Assembly, the European Parliament and the World Health Organization. She supervised more than 35 undergraduate and graduate students. The wide scope and the high quality of her research earned her several scientific rewards; the one she appreciated most was the Médaille de Vermeil de la Société d’Encouragement au Progrès, which she received from Yves Coppens, Professor at the College de France, at the Luxemburg Palace in January 14, 2001.

It was in the field of Homeopathy where she developed her most important work, reflecting the creative and rational of her spirit. In the early 1980s, she published a series of studies on the effects of ultra-high dilutions of cytokines and thymus hormones on the immunological performance of experimental animals. This was the departure point for a long journey across the world to present her work and ideas in prestigious scientific meetings, to which she was frequently called. Her courage and perseverance were rewarded also here with several prizes, including the First International “Rafael Lopez Hinojosa” prize for research in Homeopathy in Mexico in December, 1994.

In 1986, in collaboration with Dr René Halm, she founded an association devoted to research in Homeopathy, the GIRI (Groupe International de Recherche sur l’Infinitésimal), which she presided for several years. This allowed for the promotion of the Monaco International Seminars on Alternative Medicine, of which her friend, Her Highness Princess Antoinette of Monaco, was President.

Soon after the foundation of GIRI, Madeleine Bastide met the philosopher Agnès Lagache. The friendship they established was the origin of a fascinating adventure among innovative notions and experimental results, which became growingly clearer when analyzed under the light of the Theory of Body Signifiers, developed over 20 years. It is an interpretative, non-explanatory theory, a precious tool to all who aim at establishing experimental designs taking into account, at the same time, the basic notions of Homeopathy—free from doctrinaire preconceptions and the full scientific methodological rigor required for high-quality work.

The words of Agnès Lagache allow understanding the meaning of their partnership in Madeleine Bastide's academic life:

As Madeleine would say, we had ‘crossed our brains’. We were not necessarily in continual contact. At times, there were large brainstormings; at other, each one was caught for months in the professional occupations. But it was always the same thing: at each meeting, we would realize that each one had evolved along a same thread; Biology and Philosophy came to meet and clarify each other again, the adventure continued… It was also a daring exercise on interdisciplinarity; each one needed to translate her intuitions and propositions into the language of the other; each one had to consent to strip herself of her own knowledge and words whenever the other would ‘retranslate’ her contributions into the language of her discipline; each one must, at the same time, to fully trust the other and verify each new idea in its biological or philosophical coherence. And, certainly, we would no more knew who had been the first to speak on this or that, there was no more ego […] We did not fear risks, and had absolutely no intention to abide to the limits of one or another intellectual conformism, we had no need of glory, but of the friends we had met and had helped us. Before her passing away, Madeleine said, ‘We worked well’. I would add, ‘It was fun’. Madeleine shook me, dragged me along all scientific meetings across the world, even when I was ill, stimulated, open, she transmitted to me the life that emanated from her at all levels and records […] She did for me what no one else ever did and will never do: she needed what was in my mind. She rummaged in my brain as a handyman does in his reserves until he finds the exact screw he is looking for. She elicited on me answers through her questions. My extravagant ideas would gain meaning, a real shape […]. We built a fragile, debatable and unfinished, but alive and functional knowledge.

Her will and courage were expressed in all her actions, even until her last minutes. She had promised to give a lecture at the Monaco seminars on the different explanatory theories on the mode of action of the homeopathic remedies, on April 1, 2007. Although her illness made her very weary, she went and gave a brilliant lecture, no one, except her closest friends could have noticed her suffering.

She was a dedicated colleague, with her warm smile and her passion for communication which would charm her listeners, while at the same time, she was rigorous and demanding in the work. We will keep in our hearts the shining light of her generosity, her courage, her will and her intellectual honesty.

A beautiful soul has departed.