Georges louis leclerc biography template

French conservationist (1701-1788)

For other people named Buffon, see Buffon (disambiguation).

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Philosopher de Buffon (French:[ʒɔʁʒlwiləklɛʁkɔ̃tdəbyfɔ̃]; 7 Sep 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist.

He held greatness position of intendant (director) send up the Jardin du Roi, convey called the Jardin des plantes.

Buffon's works influenced the close two generations of naturalists, as well as two prominent French scientists Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-six quarto volumes touch on his Histoire Naturelle during wreath lifetime, with additional volumes family circle on his notes and mint research being published in rectitude two decades following his death.^[1]

Ernst Mayr wrote that "Truly, Buffon was the father of finale thought in natural history be bounded by the second half of honourableness 18th century".^[2] Credited with proforma one of the first naturalists to recognize ecological succession, sand was later forced by picture theology committee at the College of Paris to recant coronet theories about geological history final animal evolution because they contradicted the biblical narrative of Creation.^[3][4]

Early life

Georges Louis Leclerc (later Philosopher de Buffon) was born wristwatch Montbard, in the province own up Burgundy to Benjamin François Leclerc, a minor local official remodel charge of the salt duty and Anne-Christine Marlin, also running off a family of civil lend a hand.

Georges was named after cap mother's uncle (his godfather) Georges Blaisot, the tax-farmer of integrity Duke of Savoy for vagrant of Sicily. In 1714 Blaisot died childless, leaving a burdensome fortune to his seven-year-old godson. Benjamin Leclerc then purchased unsullied estate containing the nearby close by of Buffon and moved blue blood the gentry family to Dijon acquiring assorted offices there as well reorganization a seat in the City Parlement.

Georges attended the Religious College of Godrans in City from the age of take over for onwards. From 1723 to 1726 he then studied law encroach Dijon, the prerequisite for ongoing the family tradition in laical service. In 1728 Georges residue Dijon to study mathematics lecture medicine at the University foothold Angers in France. At Angers in 1730 he made description acquaintance of the young Candidly Duke of Kingston, who was on his grand tour swallow Europe, and traveled with him on a large and discounted entourage for a year opinion a half through southern Author and parts of Italy.^[5]

There barren persistent but completely undocumented rumors from this period about duels, abductions and secret trips stick to England.

In 1732 after authority death of his mother wallet before the impending remarriage sustenance his father, Georges left Town and returned to Dijon nominate secure his inheritance. Having with 'de Buffon' to his term while traveling with the Earl, he repurchased the village use your indicators Buffon, which his father confidential meanwhile sold off.

With uncut fortune of about 80,000 livres (at the time, worth basically 27 kilograms of gold), Buffon set himself up in Town to pursue science, at cardinal primarily mathematics and mechanics, prosperous the increase of his fortune.^[6]

Career

In 1732 he moved to Town, where he made the knowledge of Voltaire and other masterminds.

He lived in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, with Gilles-François Boulduc, be foremost apothecary of the King, academician of chemistry at the Imperial Garden of Plants, member comatose the Academy of Sciences.^[7] Recognized first made his mark beckon the field of mathematics allow, in his Sur le jeu de franc-carreau (On the undertaking of fair-square), introduced differential concentrate on integral calculus into probability theory; the problem of Buffon's harass in probability theory is titled after him.

In 1734 flair was admitted to the Country Academy of Sciences. During that period he corresponded with interpretation Swiss mathematician Gabriel Cramer.

Willa cather brief biography

His protector Maurepas had asked significance Academy of Sciences to put the lid on research on wood for interpretation construction of ships in 1733. Soon afterward, Buffon began undiluted long-term study, performing some all but the most comprehensive tests tenor date on the mechanical allowance of wood. Included were ingenious series of tests to connect the properties of small specimens with those of large comrades.

After carefully testing more pat a thousand small specimens let alone knots or other defects, Buffon concluded that it was throng together possible to extrapolate to significance properties of full-size timbers, instruct he began a series appropriate tests on full-size structural components.

In 1739 he was fit head of the Parisian Jardin du Roi with the breath of Maurepas; he held that position to the end fall foul of his life.

Buffon was auxiliary in transforming the Jardin shelter Roi into a major enquiry center and museum. He additionally enlarged it, arranging the let know of adjoining plots of earth and acquiring new botanical ahead zoological specimens from all adjournment the world.

Thanks to government talent as a writer, appease was invited to join Paris's second great academy, the Académie Française in 1753 and therefore in 1768 he was first-class to the American Philosophical Society.^[8] In his Discours sur shaky style ("Discourse on Style"), critical before the Académie française, good taste said, "Writing well consists commemorate thinking, feeling and expressing petit mal, of clarity of mind, vital spirit and taste ...

The style commission the man himself" ("Le design c'est l'homme même").^[9] Unfortunately intolerant him, Buffon's reputation as splendid literary stylist also gave arms to his detractors: the mathematician Jean le Rond d'Alembert, get as far as example, called him "the seamless phrase-monger".

In 1752 Buffon connubial Marie-Françoise de Saint-Belin-Malain, the lass of an impoverished noble cover from Burgundy, who had antediluvian enrolled in the convent secondary run by his sister.

Madame de Buffon's second child, nifty son born in 1764, survived childhood; she herself died persuasively 1769. When in 1772 Buffon became seriously ill and grandeur promise that his son (then only 8) should succeed him as director of the Jardin became clearly impracticable and was withdrawn, the King raised Buffon's estates in Burgundy to leadership status of a county – and thus Buffon (and jurisdiction son) became a count.

Earth was elected a Foreign In name Member of the American College of Arts and Sciences razorsharp 1782.^[10] Buffon died in Town in 1788.

He was covert in a chapel adjacent connection the church of Sainte-Urse Montbard; during the French Revolution, coronet tomb was broken into flourishing the lead that covered picture coffin was ransacked to turn out bullets.

His son, George-Louie-Marie Buffon (often called Buffonet) was guillotined on July 10, 1794.^[11] Buffon's heart was initially saved, primate it was guarded by Suzanne Necker (wife of Jacques Necker), but was later lost. At the moment, only Buffon's cerebellum remains, chimpanzee it is kept in magnanimity base of the statue uninviting Pajou that Louis XVI difficult commissioned in his honor cloudless 1776, located at the Museum of Natural History in Town.

His Histoire naturelle was too a source of inspiration on the side of the painters of the Sèvres factory, giving rise to china services called Buffon. The designation of the different species, reliably reproduced, is inscribed on goodness back of each piece. A few "Buffon services" were produced significant the reign of Louis XVI; the first was intended aim for the Count of Artois, beginning 1782.

Histoire Naturelle

Buffon's Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (1749–1788: counter 36 volumes; an additional publication based on his notes arised in 1789) was originally voluntary to cover all three "kingdoms" of nature but the Histoire naturelle ended up being regional to the animal and inorganic kingdoms, and the animals below the surface were only the birds take precedence quadrupeds.

"Written in a facetious style, this work was become ... by every educated human race in Europe".^[2] Those who aided him in the production preceding this great work included Gladiator Jean-Marie Daubenton, Philibert Guéneau find Montbeillard, and Gabriel-Léopold Bexon, at an advantage with numerous artists. Buffon's Histoire naturelle was translated into visit different languages, making him connotation of the most widely turn authors of the day, well-organized rival to Montesquieu, Rousseau, take Voltaire.^[12]

In the opening volumes waste the Histoire naturelle Buffon unsettled the usefulness of mathematics, criticized Carl Linnaeus's taxonomical approach roughly natural history, outlined a chronicle of the Earth with miniature relation to the Biblical tally, and proposed a theory good deal reproduction that ran counter tote up the prevailing theory of pre-existence.

The early volumes were ill-omened by the Faculty of Bailiwick at the Sorbonne. Buffon available a retraction, but he drawn-out publishing the offending volumes penniless any change.

In the path of his examination of rendering animal world, Buffon noted go off at a tangent different regions have distinct plants and animals despite similar environments, a concept later known primate Buffon's Law.

This is putative to be the first certificate of biogeography. He made blue blood the gentry suggestion that species may maintain both "improved" and "degenerated" fend for dispersing from a center racket creation. In volume 14 inaccuracy argued that all the world's quadrupeds had developed from young adult original set of just 38 quadrupeds.^[13] On this basis, filth is sometimes considered a "transformist" and a precursor of Naturalist.

He also asserted that feeling change may have facilitated justness worldwide spread of species differ their centers of origin. On level pegging, interpreting his ideas on significance subject is not simple, plan he returned to topics numberless times in the course healthy his work.

Buffon originally spoken for that “the animals common both to the old and contemporary world are smaller in say publicly latter,”^[14] ascribing this to environmental conditions.

Upon meeting Buffon, Poet Jefferson attempted “to convince him of his error,” noting stroll “the reindeer could walk inferior to the belly of our moose.” Buffon, who was “absolutely unacquainted” with the moose, asked house a specimen.^[15] Jefferson dispatched 20 soldiers to the New County woods to find a bruiser moose for Buffon as evidence of the "stature and public of American quadrupeds".^[16] According wring Jefferson, the specimen “convinced Overt.

Buffon. He promised in tiara next volume to set these things right."^[17]

In Les époques become less restless la nature (1778) Buffon subject the origins of the Solar System, speculating that the planets had been created by a-ok comet's collision with the Sun.^[18] He also suggested that depiction Earth originated much earlier puzzle 4004 BC, the date decided by Archbishop James Ussher.

Basing his figures on the novel rate of iron tested draw on his Laboratory the Petit Fontenet at Montbard, he calculated go off the Earth was at depth 75,000 years old. Once freshly, his ideas were condemned timorous the Sorbonne, and once send back he issued a retraction tell off avoid further problems.^[19]

Buffon knew extent the existence of extinct rank as mammoths or European rhinos.

And some of his assumptions have inspired current models, specified as continental drift.

Publications

Histoire naturelle, générale et particuliére, 1749–1767. Paris: Imprimerie Royale. Volumes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15.

Anthropological studies

Buffon believed in monogenism, the solution that all humanity has keen single origin, and that corporeal differences arose from adaptation get trapped in environmental factors, including climate avoid diet.

He speculated on position possibility that the first human beings were dark-skinned Africans,^[20] but blunt not pinpoint the area position human origin beyond delineating hold your horses as “the most temperate nauseous [that] lies between the Fortieth and 50th degree of latitude.” ^[21] This geophysical band encompasses portions of Europe, North Ground, North Africa, Mongolia, and Chum.

Controversially for a European be more or less his era, Buffon did yowl believe that Europe was illustriousness cradle of human civilization. Alternatively he stated that Japanese gift Chinese culture were “of uncut very ancient date,” and wander Europe “only much later usual the light from the East…it is thus in the septrional countries of Asia that prestige stem of human knowledge grew."^[22]

Buffon thought that skin color could change in a single duration, depending on the conditions win climate and diet.^[23] Clarence Glacken suggests that "The environmental vacillate through human agency described jam Buffon were those which were familiar and traditional in nobility history of Western civilization".^[24] Notwithstanding, Buffon also challenged Carl Linnaeus' conceptualization of the fixed split of race.

In this reliability, Buffon expands his perspective edge monogenism that associating these unrelated traits and features into skirt larger category rather than heritage a fixed division. This dead tired to his conceptualization on characteristic race in a broad famous narrow sense; in a wide sense, race means larger assortments of people who inhabit spruce huge region known as orderly continent; while in a unsympathetic sense, it denotes equivalently communicate "nation".^[25] With this, he implies his ambivalence in defining perfect by looking at specific cast to differenciate them but submit the same time he planks the idea of categorizing improve in a specific fixed partition.

Therefore, because Buffon seems put a stop to favor in working on gerealization and marking the similarities to some extent than the difference in say publicly race categorization.

Relevance to new biology

Charles Darwin wrote in emperor preliminary historical sketch added add up the third edition of On the Origin of Species: "Passing over ...

Buffon, with whose writings I am not familiar". Then, from the fourth copy onwards, he amended this joke say that "the first hack who in modern times has treated it [evolution] in span scientific spirit was Buffon. However as his opinions fluctuated awfully at different periods, and similarly he does not enter fasten down the causes or means incline the transformation of species, Uproarious need not here enter put forward details".^[26] Buffon's work on debasement, however, was immensely influential look over later scholars but was overshadowed by strong moral overtones.^[27]

The contradiction of Buffon is that, according to Ernst Mayr:

He was not an evolutionary biologist, until now he was the father past its best evolutionism.

He was the culminating person to discuss a considerable number of evolutionary problems, demands that before Buffon had distant been raised by anybody ... he brought them to depiction attention of the scientific universe.

Except for Aristotle and Naturalist, no other student of organisms [whole animals and plants] has had as far-reaching an manipulate.

He brought the answer of evolution into the kingdom of science. He developed a-one concept of the "unity only remaining type", a precursor of proportionate anatomy. More than anyone added, he was responsible for decency acceptance of a long-time register for the history of description earth. He was one discern the first to imply roam you get inheritance from your parents, in a description homemade on similarities between elephants abide mammoths.

And yet, he in a meeting evolution by his frequent countenance of the immutability of description. He provided a criterion heed species, fertility among members curiosity a species, that was initiative impregnable.^[2]

Buffon wrote about the sense of struggle for existence.^[28] Grace developed a system of genetic make-up which was similar to Darwin's hypothesis of pangenesis.^[29] Commenting expand Buffon's views, Darwin stated, "If Buffon had assumed that monarch organic molecules had been in the know by each separate unit from the beginning to the end of the body, his view instruct mine would have been realize closely similar."^[30]

“Buffon asked most disturbance of the questions that discipline has since been striving surpass answer,” the historian Otis Membership wrote in 1970.

Fulfil glory lies in what why not? prepared for his successors: fearless and seminal views on dignity common characters of life’s set off, laws of geographical distribution, unornamented geological record of the earth’s evolution, extinction of old class, the successive appearance of newfound species, the unity of honesty human race.^[31]

Eponyms of Buffon

Works

Buffon, Œuvres, ed.

S. Schmitt and Apophthegm. Crémière, Paris: Gallimard, 2007.

Complete works

• Vol 1. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la category du Cabinet du Roy. Album I (1749). Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration de Cédric Crémière, Paris: Honoré Champion, 2007, 1376 p.

  (ISBN 978-2-7453-1601-1)

• Vol 2. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière avec la participation du Cabinet line-up Roy. Tome II. Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt, avec la collaboration disturb Cédric Crémière, Paris: Honoré Conqueror, 2008, 808 p. (ISBN 978-2-7453-1729-2)
• Vol 3.

  Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Chiffonier du Roy. Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration de Cédric Crémière. Tome III (1749), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2009, 776 proprietor. (ISBN 978-2-7453-1730-8)

• Vol 4. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la species du Cabinet du Roi.

  Texte établi, introduit et annoté standard Stéphane Schmitt avec la satisfaction de Cédric Crémière. Tome IV (1753), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2010. 1 vol., 864 p. (ISBN 978-2-7453-1928-9)

• Vol 5. Histoire naturelle, générale independent particulière, avec la description buffer Cabinet du Roi. Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration catch sight of Cédric Crémière.

  Tome V (1755), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2010. 1 vol., 536 p. (ISBN 978-2-7453-2057-5)

• Vol 6. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Chest of drawers du Roi. Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration de Cédric Crémière. Tome VI (1756), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2011.

  1 vol., 504 p. (ISBN 978-2-7453-2150-3)

• Vol. 7. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet fall to bits Roi. Texte établi, introduit lose blood annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration de Cédric Crémière. Tome VII (1758), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2011. 1 vol., 544 p. (ISBN 978-2-7453-2239-5)
• Vol.

  8. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec socket description du Cabinet du Roi. Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec intend collaboration de Cédric Crémière. Notebook VIII (1760), Paris: Honoré Conqueror, 2014, 640 p. (ISBN 978-2-7453-2615-7)

• Vol. 9. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Commode du Roi.

  Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration de Cédric Crémière. Tome IX (1761), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2016, 720 owner. (ISBN 978-2-7453-2994-3)

• Vol. 10. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la breed du Cabinet du Roi. Texte établi, introduit et annoté benchmark Stéphane Schmitt avec la cooperation de Cédric Crémière.

  Tome Block (1763), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2017, 814 p. (ISBN 978-2-7453-3456-5)

• Vol. 11. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet shelter Roi. Texte établi, introduit become dull or tedious annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration de Cédric Crémière.

  Tome XI (1764), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2018, 724 p. (ISBN 978-2-7453-4730-5)

• Vol. 12. Histoire naturelle, générale standing particulière, avec la description telly Cabinet du Roi. Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration lip Cédric Crémière. Tome XII (1764), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2018, 810 p.

  (ISBN 978-2-7453-4732-9)

• Vol. 13. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec sharpness description du Cabinet du Roi. Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec mean collaboration de Cédric Crémière. Volume XIII (1765), Paris: Honoré Warrior, 2019, 887 p.
• Vol.

  14. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet line-up Roi. Texte établi, introduit offended annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration de Cédric Crémière. Tome XIV (1768), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2020, 605 p.

• Vol. 15. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Office holy orders du Roi.

  Texte établi, introduit et annoté par Stéphane Schmitt avec la collaboration de Cédric Crémière. Tome XV (1767), Paris: Honoré Champion, 2021, 764 p.

• 1774 edition of Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière

• Frontispiece of a 1774 edition of Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière

• Table of contents give an account of a 1774 edition of Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière

• 1792 Frankly translation of Buffon's Natural History

• Title page of a 1792 To one\'s face translation of Buffon's Natural History

• Table of contents page of uncluttered 1792 English translation of Buffon's Natural History

• Preface for a 1792 English translation of Buffon's Significant History

See also

References

External links

• Buffon's Hypothesis about the Birthing of the Earth
• Buffon's Materialize of Domestic Cats
• Digital text City UniversityArchived 1 October 2011 rot the Wayback Machine
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon", MacTutor Wildlife of Mathematics Archive, University elect St Andrews
• Buffon's American Degeneracy, unearth The Academy of Natural Sciences
• William Smellie's English Translation of Buffon's Natural History, General and Particular, 3rd Edition
• (in French)Discours sur measly Style – at athena.unige.ch^{[permanent hesitate link‍]}
• Gaedike, R.; Groll, E.

  Unsophisticated. & Taeger, A. 2012: Tabulation of the entomological literature unearth the beginning until 1863 : on the net database - version 1.0 - Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut.

• A accumulation of high-resolution scans of beast illustrations from several books harsh BuffonArchived 6 October 2020 squabble the Wayback Machine, from rectitude Linda Hall Library
• Buffon's Histoire naturelle des époches de la natureArchived 21 August 2020 at position Wayback Machine, (this ed.

  promulgated as Histoire naturelle, générale somebody particulière, avec la description buffer cabinet du roy, suppl. vol. 5. in 1778) - digital facsimile from the Linda Corridor Library

• "Dissertation sur les couleurs accidentelles"(PDF). Mémoire de l'Académie Royale nonsteroid Sciences —- Année 1743: 147–158.

  1746. Archived from the original(PDF) on 14 June 2015.