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Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
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Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist and encyclopedic author. His collected information influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-five quarto volumes of his Histoire naturelle during his lifetime, and nine more volumes were published after his death. "Truly, Buffon was the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century."
Buffon held the position of Intendant (Director) of the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des Plantes; it is the French equivalent of Kew Gardens.
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Encyclopedia
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist and encyclopedic author. His collected information influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-five quarto volumes of his Histoire naturelle during his lifetime, and nine more volumes were published after his death. "Truly, Buffon was the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century."
Buffon held the position of Intendant (Director) of the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des Plantes; it is the French equivalent of Kew Gardens. The Lycée Buffon in Paris is named after him.
Biography
Early life
He was born at Montbard, Côte-d'Or. His father, Benjamin Leclerc, was the Lord of Dijon and Montbard. He attended Jesuit College from the age of ten, and then University of Angers. He began studying law, but soon began to concentrate on his twin interests of mathematics and science. He was later forced to leave university after becoming involved in a duel, and set off on a grand tour of Europe, returning when his father's remarriage threatened his inheritance.
Career
He first made his mark in the field of mathematics and in introduced differential and integral calculus into probability theory. During this period he corresponded with the Swiss mathematician, Gabriel Cramer. The problem of Buffon's needle in probability theory is named after him. His translations of works by Isaac Newton and Stephen Hales' Vegetable staticks into French heightened his interest in biology.
He moved to Paris where he made the acquaintance of Voltaire and other intellectuals. He joined the French Academy of Sciences at the age of 27. In 1739 he was appointed head of the Jardin du Roi (later Jardin des Plantes), Paris, by his patron, Minister Maurepas. He converted it from the King's garden to a research centre and museum, and the park was considerably enlarged, with the addition of many trees and plants from around the world.
Leclerc was made Comte (Count) de Buffon in 1773. He died in Paris in 1788.
His work
Natural history
Buffon is best remembered for his great work (1749–1788: in 35 volumes, 9 additional volumes published after his death by Lacépède). It included everything known about the natural world up until that date. "Written in a brilliant style, this work was read... by every educated person in Europe." Those who assisted him in the production of this great work included Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton. His was translated into many different languages, making him one of the most widely read authors of the day, equaling Rousseau and Voltaire.
Buffon was skilled with words, earning him the nickname from mathematician Jean le Rond d' Alembert of "the great phrasemonger." Speaking of his many detractors, he said, "I shall keep absolute silence . . . and let their attacks fall upon themselves." He said that the horse was "man's most noble conquest." When delivering his ("Discourse on Style"), he said, "Writing well consists of thinking, feeling and expressing well, of clarity of mind, soul and taste . . . The style is the man himself" (""). He lent his affinity of words to the world of science and, among others, is credited with coining the term prehensile (from Latin ).
In Les époques de la nature (1778) Buffon discussed the origins of the solar system, speculating that the planets had been created by comet collisions with the sun. He also suggested that the earth originated much earlier than the 4004 BC date proclaimed by Archbishop James Ussher. Based on the cooling rate of iron, he calculated that the age of the earth was 75,000 years. For this he was condemned by the Catholic Church in France and his books were burned. Buffon also denied that Noah's flood ever occurred and observed that some animals retain parts that are vestigial and no longer useful, suggesting that they have evolved rather than having been spontaneously generated. Despite this, Buffon insisted that he was not an atheist.
Relevance to modern biology
Charles Darwin, in his preliminary historical sketch to The Origin of Species, said that "the first author who in modern times has treated it [evolution] in a scientific spirit was Buffon... [but] he does not enter on the causes or means of transformation of species."
The paradox of Buffon is that, according to Ernst Mayr:
- "He was not an evolutionist, yet he was the father of evolutionism. He was the first person to discuss a large number of evolutionary problems, problems that before Buffon had not been raised by anybody.... he brought them to the attention of the scientific world."
- "Except for Aristotle and Darwin, no other student of organisms [whole animals and plants] has had as far-reaching an influence."
- 1. He brought the idea of evolution into the realm of science.
- 2. He developed a concept of the 'unity of type', a precursor of comparative anatomy.
- 3. More than anyone else, he was responsible for the acceptance of a long time scale for the history of the earth.
- 4. He was the founder of biogeography.
- 5. And yet, he hindered evolution by his requent endorsement of the immutability of species. He provided a criterion of species, fertility among members of a species, that was thought impregnable.
He noted that despite similar environments, different regions have distinct plants and animals, a concept later known as Buffon's Law, widely considered the first principle of biogeography. He made the suggestion that species may have both "improved" and "degenerated" after dispersing from a center of creation, but interpreting his ideas is not simple, for he returned to topics many times in the course of his work. He was definitely aware of the idea of common descent, but that is balanced by his denial of change in species. He also asserted that climate change may have facilitated the worldwide spread of species from their centers of origin.
Buffon considered the similarities between humans and apes, and the possibility of a common ancestry. Buffon debated with James Burnett, Lord Monboddo on the relationship of the primates to man, Monboddo insisting on the closeness of relationship of man and apes.
Besides his many insights, he also propounded a theory that nature in the New World was inferior to that of Eurasia. He argued that the Americas were lacking in large and powerful creatures, and that even the people were far less virile than their European counterparts. He ascribed this to the marsh odours and dense forests of the continent. These remarks so incensed Thomas Jefferson that he immediately dispatched twenty soldiers to the New Hampshire woods to find a bull moose for Buffon as proof of the "stature and majesty of American quadrapeds." It took over two weeks and when shot, the moose lacked imposing horns. Before being shipped back to France, a rack of antlers from a different stag was attached.
Wood tests
Buffon performed one of the most comprehensive series of tests that had been undertaken at his time on the mechanical properties of wood. Included were a series of tests to compare the properties of small clear specimens with those of large members. After carefully testing more than 1,000 small specimens and being extremely careful to ensure that the specimens contained no knots or other defects, Buffon concluded that it was not possible to predict the properties of full-size timbers containing defects from tests of small specimens, and he began a series of tests on full-size structural members. His conclusion that tests of small specimens (without further adjustment) cannot be used to predict the properties of full-size members raised a question that was to continue into the 20th century.
Links
- The Buffon project : online (in French).
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