Oskar Hertwig

Oskar Hertwig (April 21, 1849, Friedberg, Hessen - October 25, 1922, Berlin) was a German zoologist. He was the brother of zoologist Richard Hertwig (September 23, 1850, Friedberg - October 3, 1937, Schlederloh/Munich).

Related Topics:
April 21 - 1849 - Friedberg - Hessen - October 25 - 1922 - Berlin - German - Zoologist - September 23 - 1850 - October 3 - 1937 - Schlederloh - Munich

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The Hertwig brothers were the most eminent scholars of Ernst Haeckel.

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They were independent of Haeckel's philosophical speculations but took his stimulations in a positive way to widen their concepts in zoology. Initially, between 1879-1883, they performed embryological studies, especially on the theory of the coelom (1881).These problems were based on the phylogenetic theorems of Haeckel, i.e. the biogenic theory (German = biogenetisches Grundgesetz), and the "gastraea theory". Richard Hertwig became a professor of Zoology in 1885 in Munich while Oskar became a professor of anatomy in 1888 in Berlin. Richards research focused on protists (the relationship between the nucleus and the plasm = "Kern-Plasma-Relation")as well as on developmental physiological studies on sea urchins and frogs. He also wrote a leading Zoology textbook.

Related Topics:
Biogenic theory - Gastraea theory

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Oskar Hertwig was a leader in the field of comparative and causal animal-developmental history. He also wrote a leading textbook. He discovered fertilization of sea urchins, he recognized the role of the cell nucleus during inheritance and chromosome reduction during meiosis: 1876 he found that fertilization includes the penetration of a spermatozoon into an egg cell. While Oskar was well interested in developmental biology he was opposed to chance as assumed in Charles Darwin´s theory. His most important theoretical book was: "Das Werden der Organismen, eine Widerlegung der Darwinschen Zufallslehre" (Jena 1916)(transl.: The Origin of Organisms - a Refutation of Darwin´s Theory of Chance").

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References:

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• 1. Cremer, T. 1985. Von der Zellenlehre zur Chromosomentheorie. Springer Vlg., Heidelberg.
• 2. Krafft, F., and A. Meyer-Abich (ed.). 1970. Große Naturwissenschaftler - Biographisches Lexikon. Fischer Bücherei GmbH, Frankfurt a.M. & Hamburg.
• 3. Mol.Cell.Biol.-lecture, Heidelberg, D.-H. Lankenau.Early to recent key-discoveries: From Germline Theory to Modern Gene Modification
 
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