Lamark

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Portrait by J. Pizzetta, 1893
Born	(1744-08-01)1 August 1744 Bazentin, Picardy, France
Died	18 December 1829(1829-12-18) (aged 85) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Citizenship	French citizen/subject
Known for	Evolution; inheritance of acquired characteristics; Philosophie Zoologique
Scientific career
Institutions	French Academy of Sciences; Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; Jardin des Plantes
Influenced	Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, William Healey Dall
Author abbrev. (botany)	Lam.
Author abbrev. (zoology)	Lamarck

Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (/ləˈmɑːrk/;French: [lamaʁk]), was a French naturalist. He was a soldier, biologist, academic, and an early proponent of the idea that biological evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with natural laws.

Lamarck fought in the Pomeranian War (1757–62) against Prussia, and was awarded a commission for bravery on the battlefield. Posted to Monaco, Lamarck became interested in natural history and resolved to study medicine. He retired from the army after being injured in 1766, and returned to his medical studies. Lamarck developed a particular interest in botany, and later, after he published the three-volume work Flore françoise (1778), he gained membership of the French Academy of Sciences in 1779. Lamarck became involved in the Jardin des Plantes and was appointed to the Chair of Botany in 1788. When the French National Assembly founded the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in 1793, Lamarck became a professor of zoology.

In 1801, he published Système des animaux sans vertèbres, a major work on the classification of invertebrates, a term he coined. In an 1802 publication he became one of the first to use the term biology in its modern sense. Lamarck continued his work as a premier authority on invertebrate zoology. He is remembered, at least in malacology, as a taxonomist of considerable stature.