Constantine Samuel Rafinesque

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (October 22, 1783 – September 18, 1840) was a French nineteenth-century polymath. He contributed to botany, zoology, the study of prehistoric earthworks in North America and Mesoamerican ancient linguistics.

Rafinesque was eccentric. People often say he was an "erratic genius". He was an autodidact. He was  successful in many things. He was good as a zoologist, botanist, writer and polyglot. He wrote prolifically on such diverse topics as anthropology, biology, geology, and linguistics. Today, scholars say that he was far ahead of his time in many of these fields.

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Category:French botanists
Category:French zoologists
Category:French writers
Category:1783 births
Category:1840 deaths
Category:Linguists
Category:19th-century writers