Named for the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707–1788). In 1749 he started his project Histoire naturelle, an immense work of 36 volumes on nature, in which he treated in succession the history of the formation of the earth, the life of animals and plants and the world of minerals. In 1779 the work was completed with his famous Epoques de la nature. Buffon insisted on building his theories on facts, rather than on hypotheses, and he made experience the clue for scientific investigation. His elegant style raised writing on science to the ranks of great literature. (M 31025) _ _.