Ernst Haeckel 1834 - 1919

German biologist, originally a physician in Berlin, became Privatdozent at Jena, afterward extraordinary professor of comparative anatomy, later professor of zoology, a chair established for him at Jena. This position he occupied for 43 years with intervals for zoological travels to various parts of the world. When Darwin's Origin of the Species appeared in 1859, Haeckel was deeply influenced by it, so that he became "the apostle of Darwinism in Germany." Among Haeckel's famous books are his General Morphology (1866), Natural History of Creation (1867) and Die Weltraetsel (1899), English title, The Riddle of the Universe, publ. 1901. By his 60th birthday Haeckel had published 42 works of some 13,000 pages, plus many monographs. Rudolf Steiner knew Haeckel personally, and in his autobiography, Chapter 15, Steiner recorded a very interesting and perceptive impression of the great scientist. The "genealogical tree" of Haeckel to which Steiner refers is set forth in its original form in Haeckel's General Morphology and developed in his later writings.