Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier, known as Georges Cuvier, was born on August 23 1769 in Montbéliard, into a Protestant petty bourgeois family.
In 1795, Cuvier moved to Paris to work at the Natural History Museum. In 1802, he was appointed Professor of Comparative Anatomy at the Museum, and became its Director in 1808.
He quickly made such a name for himself with the quality and content of his lectures, that in 1800 he was appointed full professor of Natural History at the Collège de France, a position he held until his death in 1832.
Throughout this period, Cuvier developed and deepened his research and work in evolutionary biology, comparative anatomy and paleontology. Thanks to his studies and innovative genius, these natural history disciplines became independent sciences.
He demonstrated that fossils represent extinct species, revolutionizing the prevailing idea that fossils are merely variations of existing species. He also developed the concept of " catastrophism ", according to which the Earth experienced a series of sudden, short-lived catastrophic events, leading to the extinction of species. Cuvier also played a key role in the development of comparative anatomy, taxonomy and animal classification, emphasizing the importance of anatomical structures in determining kinship.
In addition to his scientific activities, Cuvier played an important role in education. Inspector of Public Instruction in 1802, and then advisor to the University, he organized the high schools of Marseille, Bordeaux and Nice. In 1810, he reorganized the academies of upper Italy, then the grandes écoles in the French departments of Lower Germany and the Netherlands. In 1813, he restored public education in the Papal States and set up cantonal committees to manage elementary school in France.
Georges Cuvier died in Paris on May 13, 1832.
