Catastrophism
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In geology, catastrophism is the theory that the Earth has largely been shaped by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. This contrasts with uniformitarianism, according to
The discoveries of different layers of fossils, such as those containing Palaeotherium and Anoplotherium (pictured), by Georges Cuvier led him to believe that series of catastrophic events wiped out worlds before the modern one.
Georges Cuvier
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Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier, known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure i
Catastrophism
…the geological strata. Some catastrophists attempted to relate at least one such change to the Biblical account of Noah's flood. The French scientist Georges Cuvier (1769–1832) popularised the concept of catastrophism in the early 19th century; he proposed that new life-forms had moved in from other areas after…
Portrait by François-André Vincent, 1795
Birthplace of Georges Cuvier in Montbéliard
Cuvier's tomb in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
Cuvier with a fish fossil