Ernst Haeckel
A renowned
biologist, physician, philosopher and artist, Ernst Haeckel identified
many new species of living beings and gave names to thousands of them.
He traced a genealogical tree of all life forms and came up with new
terms in biology such as phylogeny, anthropogeny, the kingdom Protista,
phylum, stem cell, and ecology. He publicized Darwin’s theory by
producing his work in German language. He presented his recapitulation
theory- ‘ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny’ in German, which became
controversial subject during his time. Haeckel was also the first to
regard psychology as a branch of physiology. Although he contributed
much to the theory of evolution, he was best remembered for his
extensive work on radiolarian. His book ‘Die systematische Phylogenie’
or ‘Systematic Phylogeny’ which he published in 1894 was regarded as
Haeckel’s best work. In 1907, Haeckel was honored with the title of
Excellency by Kaiser Wilhelm II; and in 1908, he was awarded the
Darwin-Wallace Medal by the Linnean Society of London.
Childhood & Early Life
Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel was born on February
16, 1834 in the province of Potsdam which was then a part of Prussia. He
was educated at Cathedral High School, Merseburg. After completing his
school education in 1852, he went on to pursue medicine in Berlin and
Würzburg. He enrolled at the University of Jena where he was trained by
Karl Gegenbaur and obtained a doctorate degree in Zoology. As a
student, Haeckel showed keen interest in embryology. He received Doctor
of Medicine (M.D) degree in 1857 and obtained license to practice the
medical profession. However, the profession of a physician did not seem
appealing to Haeckel any longer when he came in contact with the
patients.
Career
Haeckel began working on animal species such as annelids,
poriferans and radiolarians in 1859 which continued till 1866. He
discovered as many as 150 new species of radiolarians in one of his
journeys to Mediterranean region. Between 1859 and 1887, he named
thousands of new species. In 1862, Ernst Haeckel became professor of
comparative anatomy at the University of Jena, the position he held for
47 years till 1909. In 1866, Haeckel toured Canary Islands with Hermann
Fol and met Thomas Huxley, Charles Darwin and Charles Lyell.
Haeckel put forward enhanced version of Étienne Serres’s
recapitulation theory where he dwelled on close relationship that exist
between biological development of an organism or ontogeny and its
evolution or phylogeny. He illustrated recapitulation theory with embryo
drawings and brought forth the concept of heterochrony which means
change in timing of embryonic development in its evolutionary course.
Haeckel was greatly influenced by Darwin’s origin of species and
produced his work ‘Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte’ in German. In 1866,
he published his work Generelle Morphologie which was synthesis of
Darwin’s ideology and German’s Naturphilosophie and Lamarck’s evolution
theory which Haeckel fittingly termed as Darwinismus. He employed
morphology to rebuild the evolutionary theory considering the lack of
fossil evidence for embryology as proof for ancestral relationship. He
even went to the extent of claiming that the origin of mankind could be
traced to South Asia where the first humans evolved. He opined that the
primates of Southeast Asia had close resemblance to humans and discarded
Darwin’s view of associating African primates to humans. He was of the
view that Lemuria in Indian Ocean was cradle of human evolution and
later migrated to other parts of the world. In his book – The History of
Creation, Haeckel described migration routes which first humans had
taken beyond Lemuria.
Haeckel’s artworks comprised of about 100 illustrations of animals
especially aquatic animals. And in the domain of philosophy, his works
include Die Welträtsel or The Riddle of the Universe and Freedom in
Science and Teaching.
Personal Life & Death
Haeckel married Agnes Huschke in 1867. The couple had two daughters
named Emma and Elizabeth, and a son named Walter. After the death of
his wife in 1915, Haeckel became mentally frail. In 1918, Haeckel sold
his Medusa mansion to the Carl Zeiss foundation. Haeckel passed away on
August 9, 1919 in Germany.
Major Works
- Radiolaria (1862)
- Siphonophora (1869)
- Monophyletischer Stambaum der Organismen from 'Generelle Morphologie der Organismen (1866)
- Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte (1868)
- Monera (1870)
- Calcareous Sponges (1872)
- Freie Wissenschaft und freie Lehre (1877)
- Deep-Sea Medusae (1881)
- Indische Reisebriefe (1882)
- Siphonophora (1888)
- Deep-Sea Keratosa (1889)
- Radiolaria (1887)
- Die systematische Phylogenie (1894)
- Die Welträthsel (1895–1899)
- Über unsere gegenwärtige Kenntnis vom Ursprung des Menschen (1898)
- Aus Insulinde: Malayische Reisebriefe (1901)
- Kunstformen der Natur (1904)
- Wanderbilder (1905)
