Peron, Francois (1775-1810), a French naturalist, wrote the first description of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Peron sailed with the French explorer Nicolas Baudin along the coast of Western Australia and Tasmania. Between 1800 and 1804, he collected more than 100,000 specimens of plants and animals. Peron was born in Cerilly, France, on Aug. 22, 1775, and died there on Dec. 14, 1810.