Ernst Haeckel Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (February 16, 1834 - 1919) was a German biologist and philosopher who popularized Charles Darwin's work in Germany.Haeckel was a physician and, later, a professor of comparative anatomy; Haeckel was one of the first to consider psychology as a branch of physiology. He also proposed many now ubiquitous terms including "phylum" and "ecology." His chief interests lay in evolution and life development at large, including an interest in development of nonrandom form which culminated in beautifully illustrated Kunstformen der Natur ("Art forms of nature").
Haeckel's observations on the link between ontogeny and phylogeny have been named the "recapitulation law", summed up in the phrase, ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Unfortunately, Haeckel's effort to prove the law was itself probably misguided and inaccurate.
Haeckel was also known for his "biogenic law", in which he suggested that the development of races paralleled the development of individuals. He advocated the idea that "primitive" races were in their infancies and need the "supervision" and "protection" of more "mature" societies.
Haeckel was a flamboyant figure whose popularity with the public was substantially higher than it was with many of his scientific peers. Although Haeckel's ideas are important to the history of evolutionary theory and he was a competent invertebrate anatomist, most famous for his work on radiolaria, most of the speculative concepts that he championed are now seen as incorrect.
For example, Haeckel hypothesized, described and named, hypothetical ancestral micro-organisms that have not been found and almost certainly do not exist. His concept of recapitulation has been disproved. Haeckel did not support "survival of the fittest" instead believing in a Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics. On top of picking the wrong theories to support, he was caught using doctored data in some of his papers.
- Ernst Haeckel did forge. Many of his pictures of organisms simply are inventions to prove his theory... Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, (Source: German weekly DIE ZEIT 22/2003 Wir Deutschen sind nicht moralisch höher stehend )
External links
- Ernst Haeckel biography
- Kunstformen der natur, scanned (from [1] Stuebers Online Library)
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