Hall of Fame: Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck

Biographical info

Name: Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de Lamarck, usually called Chevalier de Lamarck

Born: 1 August 1744, as the 11th child of a poor count from Bazentin-le-Petit, Picardy, on 1st August 1744; Died: 18 December 1829

Major Accomplishments:

Following a brief service in the military, Lamarck established himself as a botanist. In 1779, Lamarck became a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, after which he explored the botany of Europe for several years. In 1793, Lamarck and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire were appointed as Professors of Zoology at the Museum of Natural History in Paris during the revolution. Though Lamarck came to zoology late in life, it was in this field that he was to make his most famous contributions. He coined the words "biology" and "invertebrate", recognized that all biological tissue is constructed by cells, suggested that the alimentary canal is an invagination (an idea which was later elaborated by Haeckel as the Gastrea theory), and developed the Law of Use and Disuse from Buffon's ideas. This latter contribution forms the basis for what is known today as Lamarckian Theory, and has been shown to be erroneous.

Honorific taxa
Cyanea lamarckii Péron & Lesueur, 1810 [Scyphozoa]
Aulorrhiza lamarcki (Haeckel, 1869)
Cerastoderma lamarcki Reeve, 1844
Hyattella lamarcki Topsent, 1933
Leucosolenia lamarckii Haeckel, 1869
Pomatoceros lamarcki (de Quatrefages, 1866)
Gorgonocephalus lamarckii (J. Müller & Troschel, 1842)
Gyroidina lamarckiana (d'Orbigny, 1839)
Gyroidinoides lamarckiana (d'Orbigny, 1839)
Quinqueloculina lamarckiana d'Orbigny, 1826
Olencira lamarckii Leach, 1818
Carinaria lamarcki Péron & Lesueur, 1810 [Mollusca]
Eunaticina lamarckiana Récluz,
Conus lamarckii L. C. Kiener, 1849 [Mollusca]
Cypraea lamarcki Gray, 1825 [Mollusca]
Solen lamarckii G. P. Deshayes, 1839
Petrolisthes lamarckii (Leach)
Mycetophyllia lamarckiana Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848
Agaricia lamarcki Milne Edwards & Haime, 1851