Background
Haeckel was born on February 16, 1834 in Potsdam, Germany. He was the son of Carl, an administrative advisor for religious and educational affairs, and Charlotte (Sethe) Haeckel.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486229874/?tag=2022091-20
(At the nexus of art and science, this dazzling new editio...)
At the nexus of art and science, this dazzling new edition of Ernst Haeckel's first work reintroduces the genius of an enigmatic scientist and passionate observer of the natural world. Although original editions of this book are extremely rare, it is now available for the first time in a paperback edition, beautifully reproducing his drawings and watercolours. While the variety and detail of Haeckel's drawings display an impressive understanding of biological structure, the skill with which Haeckel drew these tiny, aquatic protozoa renders them genuine works of art. This volume features commentary and descriptions of each of the radiolarians from Haeckel's work.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3791333275/?tag=2022091-20
(These radiant images from the renowned 19th-century biolo...)
These radiant images from the renowned 19th-century biologist and illustrator Ernst Haeckel, featuring marine microorganisms, will enthrall fans of his previous collections and garner renewed attention for Haeckel’s unparalleled artistry. From jewelry designers to scientists, graphic artists to naturalists, the range of people inspired by Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations continues to grow. Following up on Prestel’s books Art Forms in Nature and Art Forms from the Ocean, this new collection features startlingly beautiful images created by Haeckel for the report of the HMS Challenger expedition, which circumnavigated the world from 1872–76, discovering and cataloging nearly 5,000 new species from the depths of Earth’s oceans. Full-page reproductions bring these organisms colorfully to life, drawing readers into a world at once hypnotic and highly ordered. Divided into three sections― Siphonophores, Medusae, and Radiolarians―these illustrations display Haeckel’s remarkable artistic skill and understanding of the architecture of organic matter. The authors provide a brief history of the Challenger expedition, background on Haeckel’s scientific and artistic accomplishments, as well as informative texts on each group of organisms. A guide to the natural world and an inspiration to artists of every stripe, this collection of Haeckel’s work is a fitting tribute to a 19th-century genius.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3791381415/?tag=2022091-20
artist educator medical philosopher practitioner scientist Zoologist
Haeckel was born on February 16, 1834 in Potsdam, Germany. He was the son of Carl, an administrative advisor for religious and educational affairs, and Charlotte (Sethe) Haeckel.
Haeckel attended Domgymnasium, Merseburg, 1852. Also he studied medicine at Berlin, Wurzburg, and Vienna. Ernst Haeckel finished University of Berlin with Doctor of Medicine degree in 1857, he passed state medical examination in 1858.
In 1858 Karl Gegenbaur offered Haeckel the chance of a future professorship in zoology at Jena if he would first undertake a zoological research expedition in the Mediterranean. This research occupied his time from 1859 to 1860 and resulted in the publication in 1862 of The Radiolarians, in which he announced his support of Darwinism.
Haeckel determined to reinterpret all of morphology (study and comparison of animal forms) in terms of the theory of evolution, which meant the linking of animal species phylogenetically through "geneological" trees. He argued that all processes could be reduced to mechanical-materialistic causes, that evolution was driven by such causality, and that the true philosophy of nature should be Monism, a system stressing the unity of mind and matter, in contrast to all vitalistic or teleological dualism stressing the separation of mind and matter. He differed from Darwin in two fundamental ways-Haeckel's was the more speculative mind, and he relied much more upon the Lamarckian principle of the inheritance of acquired characteristics than Darwin ever did.
In 1861, upon his return from his research expedition, Haeckel had been given the post of Privatdozent at the University of Jena. In 1862 he was named professor extraordinary in comparative anatomy and was made director of the Zoological Institute. And in 1865 a chair in zoology was established for him, which he held until 1909. During that more than 40 year period Haeckel continued his herculean labors on behalf of his science, going on four major scientific expeditions (Canary Islands, 1866-1867; Red Sea, 1873; Ceylon, 1881-1882; Java, 1900-1901) and further elaborating on his evolutionary schemes. He retired in 1909 and still lived in Jena when he died in 1919.
Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogeny, ecology, phylum, phylogeny, stem cell, and Protista. Haeckel promoted and popularised Charles Darwin's work in Germany and developed the influential but no longer widely held recapitulation theory ("ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny") claiming that an individual organism's biological development, or ontogeny, parallels and summarises its species' evolutionary development, or phylogeny.
The published artwork of Haeckel includes over 100 detailed, multi-colour illustrations of animals and sea creatures.
In 1901 Ernst was the recipient of the Turin Bressa Prize for his outstanding work in biology. Throughout his life he received many honors and was elected to many scientific societies, among them the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Vienna (1872), the American Philosophical Society (1885), and the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1888).
Ernst was awarded the title of Excellency by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1907 and the Linnean Society of London's prestigious Darwin-Wallace Medal in 1908. In the United States, Mount Haeckel, a 13,418 ft (4,090 m) summit in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, overlooking the Evolution Basin, is named in his honour, as is another Mount Haeckel, a 2,941 m (9,649 ft) summit in New Zealand; and the asteroid 12323 Haeckel.
(These radiant images from the renowned 19th-century biolo...)
(At the nexus of art and science, this dazzling new editio...)
Haeckel was an atheist.
Haeckel's political beliefs were influenced by his affinity for the German Romantic movement coupled with his acceptance of a form of Lamarckism. Rather than being a strict Darwinian, Haeckel believed that the characteristics of an organism were acquired through interactions with the environment and that ontogeny reflected phylogeny. He believed the social sciences to be instances of "applied biology", and that phrase was picked up and used for Nazi propaganda. In 1905, Haeckel founded a group called the Monist League (Deutscher Monistenbund) to promote his religious and political beliefs. This group lasted until 1933 and included such notable members as Wilhelm Ostwald, Georg von Arco, Helene Stöcker and Walter Arthur Berendsohn.
Haeckel was a medical practitioner, zoologist and evolutionist turned monistic philosopher.
Quotations:
"Nothing is constant but change! All existence is a perpetual flux of "being and becoming!" That is the broad lesson of the evolution of the world. "
"Where faith commences, science ends. Both these arts of the human mind must be strictly kept apart from each other. Faith has its origin in the poetic imagination; knowledge, on the other hand, originates in the reasoning intelligence of man. Science has to pluck the blessed fruits from the tree of knowledge, unconcerned whether these conquests trench upon the poetical imaginings of faith or not. "
"Mental differences between the lowest men and the animals are less than those between the lowest and the highest man. "
"The whole of organic nature on our planet exists only by a relentless war of all against all. . .. The raging war of interests in human society is only a feeble picture of an unceasing and terrible war of existence which reigns throughout the whole of the living world. "
"Man is not distinguished from [the animals] by a special kind of soul, or by any peculiar and exclusive psychic function, but only by a higher degree of psychic activity, a superior stage of development. "
"The real cause of personal existence is not the favor of the Almighty, but the sexual love of one's earthly parents. "
Ernst traveled widely and drew and painted what he saw; his books on his journeys to India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) were published and translated, as were his love letters to a woman to whom he gave a fictional name. In these things, as well as in his scientific work, he exemplified an era whose thought could be profoundly speculative and whose energy of output was remarkable.
Physical Characteristics: Haeckel, a strong, athletic man, loved swimming and hiking, though arthritis limited his activity at times.
In his private life, Haeckel lived fully. He married his cousin, Anna Sethe, in 1862. Anna died in 1864.In 1867 Haeckel married Agnes Huschke, whose father was the anatomist Emil Huschke.
