George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon - parintele istoriei naturale
George-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon - the founder of natural history

Summary/Abstract: George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was born in France,in the same year as Liné was born in Sweden. As a French naturalist and biogeographer, Buffon studied also mathematics, astronomy, geology and performed most comprehensive series of tests on the mechanical properties of wood. Not least he was member of the French Academy of Science and for 50 years was director of the Royal Botanical Garden in Paris which in his time was extended, developed and at the end of his life, was transformed (in 1793) in the National Museum of Natural History – a focal point of natural sciences in Europe and all over the world. His great work “Histoire naturelle, générale et pariculière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roy” (in 36 volumes), included everything known about the natural world up until his time. Thus, Buffon can be considered the father of Natural History.

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