Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Profession: French Naturalist

Nationality:

Biography: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck put forward early and important ideas of evolution gathered from his own biological studies that organisms evolved over time as a response to their environment.

Lamarck's views were laid out in lectures and his publications. He was particularly know for his Theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, whereby an offspring can inherit characteristics developed by its parent. Although his ideas were superseded during his own lifetime, his work paved the way for later theories of evolution including Charles Darwin's own.

Lamarck is also well known for his study of invertebrates and he was the first to coin the term. His major work on them "Sytème des animaux sans vertèbres" was published in 1801. From 1788 he was the keeper of the herbarium of the Royal Garden in Paris.

Born: August 1, 1744
Birthplace: Paris, France
Star Sign: Leo

Died: December 18, 1829 (aged 85)