/ / Scientist Georges Cuvier: biography, achievements, discoveries and interesting facts

Scientist Georges Cuvier: biography, achievements, discoveries and interesting facts

Georges Cuvier - the great scientist-zoologist, foundercomparative animal anatomy and paleontology. This man is striking in his desire to explore the world around him, and, despite some erroneous views, he made his considerable contribution to the development of science.

Childhood scientist

Cuvier was born on August 23, 1769 inThe city of Montbeliard, France. Little Georges was clever beyond his years: at 4 he read well, and his mother taught drawing. The ability to painting was useful to the scientist in his work on paleontology, where he hand-painted illustrations for books. These illustrations were then copied for a long time into other prints, so high-quality and believable they were made.

Жорж Леопольд Кювье жил в бедной протестантской family. His father was already aged, served in the French army as a soldier, and his mother devoted her life to her son. She worked with him, and also raised to her feet after another illness (Cuvier often fell ill in childhood).

Georges Cuvier

Education

The school year of the future scientist flew by quickly.Georges Cuvier proved to be a talented student, but he had a rebellious character. It was originally planned that the boy would continue his studies in a theological school and receive the title of pastor, however, strained relations with the director did not allow him to become a priest of the Protestant church.

Georges Cuvier received further education inKarolinska Academy at the Faculty of Cameral Sciences (state property management). Here, in Stuttgart, the scientist studied hygiene, law, national economy and finance. Already at the university he was fond of the animal world, therefore with his participation the “Academy” circle was organized. This association lasted 4 years - so much Georges studied at the faculty. Members of the group shared their small achievements in the study of nature, prepared speeches. Distinguished were awarded an improvised medal made of cardboard with the image of Lamarck.

Georges Cuvier - Biography of a Scientist at the Crossroads of the Life Trail

Four years of student life flew byimperceptibly, and Georges returned home to his parents. The father has already retired, the mother did not work. As a result, the family budget was practically empty, which undoubtedly could not be ignored.

Then the scientist heard rumors that the graphErisi from Normandy is looking for a home teacher for her son. Being an educated man, Georges Cuvier collected his suitcases and went for a part-time job. The house of the famous earl was located on the seashore, and this made it possible for George to see the sea inhabitants not only on paper, but also live. He boldly opened the sea stars, sea worms, fish, crabs and crayfish, mollusks. Then Georges Cuvier was surprised at how complicated the structure of the simplest living organisms was at first glance. Numerous vessels, nerves, glands and organ systems simply struck the scientist. His work with marine animals was described in the journal Zoological Bulletin.

george cuvier biography

The first studies in the field of paleontology

The end of the 18th century is the birth of paleontology.Cuvier, as the founder of this science, has made a great contribution to its development. His first experience relates to the case when he received a parcel with the bones of a creature found in Maastricht. Hoffan (that was the name of the inhabitants of this city who found the remains) decided to send the skeleton of the then famous Cuvier to Paris. The “breadwinner” himself claimed that these could be whale bones. In turn, many scientists found similarities with the crocodile skeleton, and the Maastricht church completely took the bones for the remains of the saint and took it as a relic.

Ученый Жорж Кювье опроверг все эти варианты origin of the skeleton. After a scrupulous work, he suggested that the remains belong to an ancient reptile that lived in the waters of Holland millions of years ago. This was indicated by the large size of the skeleton, including the spine, the huge head and jaw with many sharp teeth, which indicated the creature's predatory lifestyle. Cuvier also noticed the remains of ancient fish, mollusks and other aquatic creatures, which, apparently, fed this reptile.

The creature was called a mozosaurus, which from Greekcan be translated as "the creepy Meuse River" (in French Meuse). This was the first serious scientific discovery of the scientist. After analyzing the remains of an unknown creature, Georges Cuvier laid the foundation for a new science - paleontology.

How was the work with the remains

Жорж Кювье изучил и систематизировал около сорока species of various prehistoric animals. Some of them could only remotely resemble modern representatives of the fauna, but the overwhelming majority had nothing to do with cows, sheep, deer.

The scientist also proved that before the world was a kingdomreptiles. Water and land have become home to a large number of different types of dinosaurs. Even the sky was dominated by pterodactyls, not birds, as other researchers believed.

Georges Cuvier developed his way of studyingthe remains. As a result, based on the skeleton of the animal and the knowledge that all parts of the body are interconnected, he could guess what the creature actually looked like. As practice has shown, his work was very plausible.

george cuvier briefly

Georges Cuvier: Contribution to Biology

Продолжив изучение животных, ученый начал analyze the similarities and differences between them. As a result, he became the founder of such a trend in science as comparative anatomy. His theory of "correlation of parts of the body" states that all organs and structures are interconnected, and their structure and functionality depend on environmental conditions, nutrition, reproduction.

For example, give an analysis of ungulatean animal. It feeds on grass, which means it must have massive teeth. Since the powerful jaw requires a strongly developed musculature, the head will also be large relative to the rest of the body. This head must be maintained, which means that the vertebrae of the cervical spine and their processes will be developed. A herbivorous mammal that does not have fangs or claws must somehow defend itself against predators. As a result, horns appeared. Vegetable food is digested for a long time, which leads to the development of the volumetric stomach and long intestine. Developed digestive system - the reason for the presence of wide ribs and a large abdomen.

george cuvier contribution to biology

Further work in the field of paleontology has ledto the discovery of many unseen creatures. Among them, pterodactyls are flying reptiles that used to be predators and fed on fish. So Georges Cuvier proved that millions of years ago the sky was ruled by reptiles, not birds.

Catastrophe Theory

Жорж Кювье, биография которого была связана с development of paleontology, led his idea of ​​the evolution of living organisms. Studying the remains of ancient creatures, the scientist noticed one pattern: in the surface layers of the earth's crust are the bones of animals that have even the slightest resemblance to modern species, and in deeper layers are skeletons of prehistoric creatures.

Несмотря на это открытие, Жорж Кювье сам себе contradicted. The fact is that he denied evolution as a whole, as a result of which the scientist proposed his theory of the development of fauna on the planet. Cuvier suggested that at indefinite intervals the piece of land was flooded by the sea, and all living organisms died. After that, the water flowed away, and in the new place other organisms with fundamentally new structural features of the organism appeared. On the question of where these animals could come from, scientists could only guess. The theory of catastrophes is reactionary, since its appearance was an attempt to reconcile science and religion.

Georges Cuvier's ideas on the evolution of the fauna couldoriginated due to the fact that at the time of the development of paleontology of transitional forms between certain species of animals was not found. As a result, there was no reason to suggest a phased evolutionary development of organisms. Only Darwin proposed a similar theory, but this happened after the death of Georges Cuvier.

george cuvier brief biography

Differences classification Linnea and Cuvier

Working with animals and studying their structure, Georges Cuvier briefly systematized all the representatives of the fauna into 4 types:

1. Vertebrates. This included all animals with a dissected skeleton. Examples: birds, reptiles (reptiles and amphibians), mammals, fish.

2. Radiant. In this team group were collected all the representatives of the fauna, which had the radial symmetry of the body, which is typical, for example, for the starfish.

3. Soft-bodied. These are animals with a soft body enclosed in a hard shell. These include cuttlefish, mussels, oysters, snails, pond fish, octopus, etc.

4. Arthropods.Animals belonging to this group have a powerful external skeleton in the form of a solid shell, and the whole body is divided into many segments. Examples: centipedes, insects, crustaceans, arachnids. Some worms were mistaken here.

Linnaeus, in contrast to Georges Cuvier, singled out 6 suchtypes: reptiles, birds, mammals, fish, insects and worms (here amphibians also belong to reptiles). From the point of view of systematics, the classification of animals according to Cuvier turned out to be more perfect, and therefore was used for a long time.

scientist Georges Cuvier

An interesting fact from the life of a scientist

One day, Cuvier's student decided to play a trick on him.To do this, he put on a ram costume and, while the teacher was asleep, quietly walked over to his bed. He exclaimed: “Cuvier, Cuvier, I will eat you!” Georges, through a dream, felt the horns and saw the hooves, and then calmly replied: “You are not a predator, you will not be able to eat me.”

There is also a Cuvier quote that allorgans and parts of the animal are interconnected. It states that “the organism is a coherent whole. Parts of it cannot be changed without causing changes to others. "

Achievements

Выдающимся ученым в области палеонтологии того time was considered Georges Cuvier. A brief biography states that in 1794 a scientist worked in a new museum of natural history. There he wrote the first works on entomology, which became the beginning of a serious scientific activity.

In 1995, Cuvier began to live in Paris.A year later, he occupied the department of animal anatomy at the Sorbonne and was appointed a member of the national institute. A couple of years later, the scientist became the head of the department of comparative anatomy of the same University of Paris.

Georges Leopold Cuvier

For scientific achievements Georges Cuvier received the title of Peer of France and became a member of the French Academy.

Conclusion

Cuvier made a huge contribution to the developmentcomparative anatomy and paleontology. His work became the foundation for further study of animals, and his classification has been preserved for a long time. And let him leave a number of errors in the field of evolution, the scientist is worthy of praise and recognition for his many works.

Georges Cuvier died on May 13, 1832.