Final answer:
Georges Cuvier was a key figure in early paleontology, best known for his theory of catastrophism. His ideas on extinction contributed to evolutionary thought, which were further advanced by Charles Lyell's uniformitarianism, integrating geological and biological processes over a much extended timeline.
Step-by-step explanation:
Georges Cuvier's Contributions to Paleoanthropology
Georges Cuvier was a prominent French naturalist and zoologist in the early 19th century who is hailed as the founder of paleontology, the scientific study of life in the geological past, involving analysis of plant and animal fossils. He developed the theory of catastrophism, which proposed that Earth's geological features and the fossil record could be explained by catastrophic events such as floods and earthquakes. Cuvier's interpretation of the increasing number of fossils dispelled notions that Earth was static and unchanging, and his argument that species could actually become extinct was foundational to later evolutionary theory, despite the eventual displacement of catastrophism by uniformitarianism and Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
Charles Lyell, a contemporary of Cuvier and a Scottish geologist, furthered the understanding of geological processes through his principle of uniformitarianism. This idea, which posited that the same natural forces that shape our planet today have been at work for eons, was critical in suggesting a much older Earth. Both Cuvier and Lyell provided essential groundwork for the development of evolutionary theory, influencing future scientists like Charles Darwin.