Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny | |
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| Born | 6 September 1802 (1802-09-06) Couëron, France |
| Died | 30 June 1857 (1857-07-01) (aged 54) |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | malacology, fossils, palaeontology |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Natural history |
| Institutions | Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle |
Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a Frenchnaturalist who made major contributions in many areas, includingzoology (includingmalacology),palaeontology,geology,archaeology andanthropology.
D'Orbigny was born inCouëron (Loire-Atlantique), the son of a ship's physician and amateur naturalist. The family moved toLa Rochelle in 1820, where his interest in natural history was developed while studying the marine fauna and especially the microscopic creatures that he named "foraminiferans".
In Paris he became a disciple of the geologistPierre Louis Antoine Cordier (1777–1861) andGeorges Cuvier. All his life, he would follow the theory of Cuvier and stay opposed toLamarckism.
D'Orbigny travelled on a mission for the Paris Museum, in South America between 1826 and 1833. He visited Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, and returned to France with an enormous collection of more than 10,000 natural history specimens. He described part of his findings inLa Relation du Voyage dans l'Amérique Méridionale pendant les annés 1826 à 1833 (Paris, 1824–47, in 90fascicles). The other specimens were described by zoologists at the museum.
His contemporary,Charles Darwin, arrived in South America in 1832, and on hearing that he had been preceded, grumbled that D'Orbigny had probably collected "the cream of all the good things".[1] Darwin later called D'Orbigny's Voyage a "most important work".[2] They went on to correspond, with D'Orbigny describing some of Darwin's specimens.
He was awarded theGold Medal of theSociété de Géographie of Paris in 1834.[3] The South American PaleocenepantodontAlcidedorbignya was named in his honour.[4]
In 1840, d'Orbigny started the methodical description of Frenchfossils and publishedLa Paléontologie Française (8 vols). In 1849 he published a closely relatedProdrome de Paléontologie Stratigraphique, intended as a "Preface to Stratigraphic Palaeontology", in which he described almost 18,000 species, and with biostratigraphical comparisons erectedgeological stages, the definitions of which rest on their stratotypes.
In 1853 he became professor of palaeontology at the ParisMuséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, publishing hisCours élémentaire that relatedpaleontology tozoology, as a science independent of the uses made of it instratigraphy.[5] The chair of paleontology was created especially in his honor. The d'Orbigny collection is housed in theSalle d'Orbigny and is often visited by experts.[6]
He described the geological timescales and defined numerous geological strata, still used today aschronostratigraphic reference such as Toarcian, Callovian, Oxfordian, Kimmeridgian,Aptian,Albian andCenomanian. He died in the small town ofPierrefitte-sur-Seine, near Paris.
D'Orbigny, a disciple of Georges Cuvier, was a notable advocate ofcatastrophism.[7]
He recognized twenty-seven catastrophes in thefossil record.[8] This became known as the "doctrine of successive creations".[8][9] He attempted to reconcile the fossil record with theGenesis creation narrative. Bothuniformitarian geologists and theologians rejected his idea of successive creations.[9]
PalaeontologistCarroll Lane Fenton has noted that his idea of twenty-seven world-wide creations was "absurd", even for creationists.[10]L. Sprague de Camp has written that "Alcide d'Orbigny, carried the idea to absurdity. Dragging in the supernatural, d'Orbigny argued that, on twenty-seven separate occasions, God had wiped out all life on earth and started over with a whole new creation."[11]
Several zoological andbotanicaltaxa were named in his honor, including the followinggenera andspecies.
In the above list, ataxon author orbinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than the genus to which the species is currently assigned.
The standardauthor abbreviationA.D.Orb. is used to indicate this person as the author whenciting abotanical name.[16]
La Gazette des Français du Paraguay, Alcide d'Orbigny – Voyageur Naturaliste pour le Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle dans le Cone Sud – Alcide d'Orbigny – Viajero Naturalista para el Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Francia en el Cono Sur – Bilingue Français Espagnol – numéro 7, année 1, Asuncion Paraguay.
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