Cuvier, George Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron

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Cuvier, George Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron (1769–1832) French comparative anatomist, who became professor at the Collège de France in 1799, moving in 1802 to the Jardin de Plantes. Cuvier extended the classification system of Linnaeus, adding the category phylum (of which he recognized four in the animal kingdom) and concentrating on the taxonomy of fishes. He also initiated the classification of fossils and established the science of palaeontology.

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