Jean Babtiste Lamarck was one of the pioneers in the field of biology.
In fact, the very name ‘biology’ was coined by this French naturalist. He is best remembered for his theory, the characteristics an organism develops during its lifetime in response to its environment are inherited by, or passed on to, its offspring.
Lamarck was the first to use the term invertebrate to describe animals without backbones. He began collecting fossils and studying all sorts of simple species.
As a result of these studies, he was able to revise the classification of lower animals that had been unfinished by the Swedish biologist Linnaeus.
Lamarck’s study of invertebrates also led to the publication of his major work ‘The Natural History of Invertebrate Animals’ in 1815-22.