Alcide d'Orbigny

Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny
Born	6 September 1802 (1802-09-06) Couëron, France
Died	30 June 1857 (1857-07-01) (aged 54) Pierrefitte-sur-Seine
Nationality	French
Known for	malacology, fossils, palaeontology
Scientific career
Fields	Natural history
Institutions	Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle

Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropology.

D'Orbigny was born in Couëron (Loire-Atlantique), the son of a ship's physician and amateur naturalist. The family moved to La Rochelle in 1820, where his interest in natural history was developed while studying the marine fauna and especially the microscopic creatures that he named "foraminiferans".

In Paris he became a disciple of the geologist Pierre Louis Antoine Cordier (1777–1861) and Georges Cuvier. All his life, he would follow the theory of Cuvier and stay opposed to Lamarckism.