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Georges Cuvier, 19th century French zoologist and paleontologist. Cuvier (1769-1832) was a founder of comparative anatomy and father of paleontology. He expanded the Linnaeus system of classification, grouping related classes into phyla. Cuvier opposed theories of evolution and Lamarck's theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics (Transformism), proposing instead a catastrophist theory of new creation of life after periodic global disasters.