Final answer:
Contrary to the question, James Hutton did not discover catastrophism. It was actually Georges Cuvier, a French scientist, who proposed catastrophism as a theory to explain species extinction.
Step-by-step explanation:
Contrary to the statement in the question, James Hutton was not the scientist who discovered catastrophism. It was actually Georges Cuvier, a French scientist, who proposed catastrophism as a theory to explain the extinction of certain species. Cuvier suggested that floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters were responsible for killing all the animals alive in certain places at certain times. However, modern scientists no longer adhere to catastrophism as a viable theory, but Cuvier's idea of extinction continues to be an important component of evolutionary thinking today.