Haeckel, Ernst

Haeckel, Ernst (Heinrich Philipp August)

Ernst Haeckel, c. 1870.

(credit: The Bettmann Archive)

(born Feb. 16, 1834, Potsdam, Prussia—died Aug. 9, 1919, Jena, Ger.) German zoologist and evolutionist. After receiving a degree in medicine in 1857, he obtained a doctorate in zoology from the University of Jena, and from 1862 to 1909 he taught zoology at Jena. His work concentrated on diverse marine invertebrates. Influenced by Charles Darwin, Haeckel saw evolution as the basis for an explanation of all nature and the rationale of a philosophical approach. He attempted to create the first genealogical tree of the entire animal kingdom. He proposed that each species illustrates its evolutionary history in its embryological development (“Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”). Through his theories of the evolution of humans, he brought attention to important biological questions. Through his numerous books, he was an influential popularizer of evolutionary theory.