Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
hemmed in by three such streets (and by the River Seine to the east):
to the north by Rue Cuvier, after the anatomist Baron Georges Cuvier
(1769-1832); to the west by Rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, after the zoologist
´
tienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844), who in 1827 had accom-
panied the first giraffe to enter Paris on her journey north from
Marseille; and to the south by Rue Buffon after the one-time curator
of the Jardin du Roi. It is the latter who is the principal subject of this
segment of our examination of the dating of the Earth. Close to the
present-day aquatic garden is a bronze statue of the great man, com-
plete with powdered wig and flowing cape, in which he is seated
overlooking his garden. In his left hand flaps a dove which looks as if
it is desperately trying to escape his grip, and in the plinth it is
supposed his heart was entombed.
Near the Jardin, the Universit´ Pierre et Marie Curie is situ-
ated on Rue Jussieu, itself named after the three botanical brothers
Jussieu: Antoine (1686-1758) who was a Professor of Botany in the
Jardin du Roi, Bernard (1699-1777) who forayed throughout the
Iberian Peninsula in search of plants and Joseph (1704-1779) who
explored in South America and who was responsible for introducing
into Europe Heliotropium, the heliotrope, an attractive member of the
borage family. Later in this narrative the Curies will feature briefly.
THE AVERAGE STUDENT FROMDIJON
Georges-Louis Leclerc (Figure
7.1
) was born at Montbard, a small town
in Burgundy 200 km southwest of Paris, on 7 September 1707 to
Benjamin Leclerc, a state official, and his wife Anne-Cristine Marlin.
The family estates lay in the valley of the Arman¸on River that leads
to the Plateau de Langres close to the source of the great French rivers
Marne, Meuse, Saˆ ne and Seine. Ten years after his birth, Leclerc's
father became the lord of Buffon andMontbard, and in that year moved
his family to the town of Dijon some 60 km southeast of Montbard.
Georges-Louis, who was the eldest of five children, was educated in
the town and later began to study law at the behest of his father; such a
course of study did not suit this 'average' student and so he moved to
