Georges Cuvier

Georges Cuvier
Georges Cuvier
Born	23 August 1769 Montbéliard
Died	13 May 1832 Paris
Nationality	French
Known for	establishing extinction, catastrophism, opposition to evolution, stratigraphy
Scientific career
Fields	natural history, paleontology, anatomy
Institutions	Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle

Baron Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier (23 August 1769–13 May 1832), usually called Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist.

Cuvier was a very important figure in scientific circles in Paris during the early 19th century. He helped establish the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology by comparing living animals with fossils. He proved extinction was a fact. He was the most influential person believing in catastrophism in geology in the early 19th century. His most famous work is the Règne animal distribué d'après son organisation 1817; translated into English as The Animal Kingdom.

Cuvier was a member of the elite Académie française and the French Academy of Sciences. He is remembered for strongly opposing the evolutionary theories of Lamarck and Geoffroy. Cuvier believed there was no evidence for the evolution of organic forms, but there was evidence for successive creations after catastrophic extinction events.

Some of Cuvier's most influential followers were Louis Agassiz, and Richard Owen. His is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

He was the elder brother of Frédéric Cuvier (1773–1838), also a naturalist. Cuvier died in Paris, of cholera.