Kammerer, Paul

Kammerer, Paul 

Born Aug. 17, 1880, in Vienna; died there Sept. 23, 1926. Austrian zoologist.

Kammerer graduated from the University of Vienna in 1904 and taught a course there in experimental morphology. From 1902 to 1923 he was a member of the staff of the Institute of Experimental Biology (of the Austrian Academy of Sciences), which he helped organize. He attempted to demonstrate experimentally the inheritance of acquired traits and to prove Lamarckism. However, his failure to observe the strict requirements of such experiments evoked criticism of many of his works by other researchers. Because of his pacifist, atheistic, and antiracist views, Kammerer was persecuted by the chauvinist-minded German scientists. He committed suicide after an accusation that he falsified the results of his experiments.

WORKS

Neuvererbung oder Vererbung erworbener Eigenschaften. Stuttgart, 1925.
In Russian translation:
Obshchaia biologiia. Moscow-Leningrad, 1925.
Pol, razmnozhenie i plodovitosf: Biologiia vosproizvedeniia. Leningrad, 1927.
Zagadka nasledstvennosti: Osnovy obshchei teorii nasledstvennosti Leningrad, 1927.

REFERENCES

Gaisinovich, A. E. “U istokov sovetskoi genetiki: I. Bor’ba s lamarkizmom (1922–1927).” Genetika, 1968, no. 6.
Bliakher, L. Ia. Problema nasledovaniia priobretennykh priznakov. Moscow, 1971. Chapter 12.

A. E. GAISINOVICH