Description: (French Naturalist Who Is Known for Establishing the Principle of 'Unity of Composition')
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a prominent French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition" in organismal design. He collaborated with Jean-Baptiste Lamarck to expand and defend Lamarck's evolutionary theories. Geoffroy's transcendental scientific views, influenced by German morphologists like Lorenz Oken, contrasted Lamarck's materialistic approach. Through research in comparative anatomy, paleontology, and embryology, Geoffroy accumulated evidence supporting his belief in the transmutation of species over time. He is recognized as a forerunner of the evo-devo evolutionary concept.