Buffons

Buffons refers to a surname of French origin. Notable bearers include Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon (1707–1788), an 18th-century French naturalist, mathematician, and encyclopedist who authored the Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière and helped shape early modern natural history and biology. His work influenced the classification of species and the understanding of Earth’s history and fauna. Another prominent bearer is Gianluigi Buffon (born 1978), an Italian professional football goalkeeper who spent the majority of his career with Juventus and the Italy national team, widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.

Buffons also appear in other fields, and the surname remains present in Europe today. In science and mathematics, Buffon’s needle is a famous probability experiment associated with Buffon, the 18th-century naturalist, used to estimate pi by dropping a needle on lined paper and examining the probability of crossing a line. The phrase Buffon’s needle reflects the link between the name and this probabilistic method.