Which scientist is best known for advocating catastrophism and arguing that fossils reflect past disasters rather than slow change?

Which scientist is best known for advocating catastrophism and arguing that fossils reflect past disasters rather than slow change?

• A. Buffon
• B. Lyell
• C. Georges Cuvier
• D. Darwin

Answer: (C)

Georges Cuvier is the scientist most closely tied to catastrophism. He argued that Earth’s history has been shaped by dramatic, short-lived events—catastrophes—that drive mass extinctions and major shifts in life, rather than slow, gradual change. His fossil work showed abrupt differences between successive layers and distinct faunas, which he took as evidence that species disappear suddenly at catastrophe boundaries and are replaced, rather than slowly transformed into new forms. This emphasis on extinction and sudden upheaval stands in contrast to uniformitarian ideas that see slow, continuous processes as the main engine of change, and to Darwin’s later idea that evolution occurs gradually through natural selection. Buffon contributed to early thinking about Earth and life but is not the figure most associated with catastrophism.

Georges Cuvier is the scientist most closely tied to catastrophism. He argued that Earth’s history has been shaped by dramatic, short-lived events—catastrophes—that drive mass extinctions and major shifts in life, rather than slow, gradual change. His fossil work showed abrupt differences between successive layers and distinct faunas, which he took as evidence that species disappear suddenly at catastrophe boundaries and are replaced, rather than slowly transformed into new forms. This emphasis on extinction and sudden upheaval stands in contrast to uniformitarian ideas that see slow, continuous processes as the main engine of change, and to Darwin’s later idea that evolution occurs gradually through natural selection. Buffon contributed to early thinking about Earth and life but is not the figure most associated with catastrophism.