Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
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Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist. He held the position of intendant (director) at the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des plantes.
Painting by François-Hubert Drouais
Buffon's microscope
Statue of Buffon in the Jardin des plantes
"Preuves de la théorie de la Terre", in the Buffon Museum, Montbard, Côte-d'Or, France
Natural history
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Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is called a naturalist or natural historian.
Black and white tables of natural history, from Ephraim Chambers's 1728 Cyclopaedia.
A natural history collection in a French public secondary school
Blackberry from the sixth-century Vienna Dioscurides manuscript
Georges Buffon is best remembered for his Histoire naturelle, a 44-volume encyclopedia describing quadrupeds, birds, minerals, and some science and technology. Reptiles and fish were covered in supplements by Bernard Germain de Lacépède.