Cuvier Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert

Cu·vier

(kyo͞o′vē-ā′), Baron Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert 1769-1832. French anatomist who is considered the founder of comparative anatomy. He originated a system of zoological classification that grouped animals according to the structures of their skeletons and organs. Cuvier extended his system to fossils, and his reconstructions of the way extinct animals looked, based on their skeletal remains, greatly advanced the science of paleontology.