Cuvier << KYOO vee `ay` or koov YAY >>, Baron (1769-1832), was a French naturalist who studied comparative anatomy, a branch of zoology that compares the differences and similarities in the body structure of different animals. Cuvier included investigations of the remains of prehistoric animals in his comparisons. He wrote The Animal Kingdom (1817), which became an authoritative reference on the classification of animals.
Cuvier began his work by dissecting marine invertebrates (animals without backbones). He later studied many large land mammals, including the rhinoceros and the elephant. Cuvier was the first scientist to propose that species may become extinct. After he examined fossilized bones discovered in Paris, he determined that the bones were from an elephant unlike any species alive at the time. Cuvier proposed that they were the bones of a prehistoric elephant species that had become extinct.
Cuvier proposed the theory of geological catastrophe to explain why many fossil animals no longer exist. This theory held that great volcanic upheavals and similar catastrophes destroyed many forms of life. Cuvier believed that the distinctive anatomical characteristics of various animal groups was proof that they had not evolved from the same ancestor. Cuvier also believed that species did not change over time. He vehemently opposed the evolutionary ideas proposed by his rival, the naturalist Chevalier de Lamarck.
Georges Leopold Chretien Frederic Dagobert Cuvier was born on Aug. 23, 1769, in Montbeliard, France. He taught at the College of France. He helped found some of the French provincial universities. Cuvier died on May 13, 1832.
See also Biology (The origins of scientific classification).
