Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707 – 1788)

A French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopaedic author. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-five quarto volumes of his Histoire naturelle during his lifetime; one additional volume based on his notes was published in 1789 after his death. The following has been said of him: "Truly, Buffon was the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century".

Buffon is best remembered for his Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (1749–1788: in 36 volumes; an additional volume based on his notes appeared in 1789). Originally intended to cover all three "kingdoms" of nature, the Histoire naturelle ended up being limited to the animal and mineral kingdoms, but Buffon's view of natural history as a broad and necessarily theoretical enterprise ensured that the Histoire naturelle was anything but narrow.

Georges-Louis Comte de Buffon (17)

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