City Readers Digital Historic Collections at the New York Society Library

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɔʁʒ lwi ləklɛʁ kɔ̃t də byfɔ̃]; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopedic author.

His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-six quarto volumes of his Histoire Naturelle during his lifetime; with additional volumes based on his notes and further research being published in the two decades following his death.

It has been said that "Truly, Buffon was the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century".

Buffon held the position of intendant (director) at the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des Plantes.