August Weismann

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August Weismann 1908

Friedrich Leopold August Weismann ( January 17, 1834 in Frankfurt am Main - November 5, 1914 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German doctor , histologist , geneticist and zoologist . Until 1882 he developed the germplasm theory , according to which only the genetic material in the germ or sperm cells is passed on. Ernst Mayr classifies him as the most important evolutionary theorist of the 19th century after Charles Darwin . He is considered the founder of neo-Darwinism .

Life

Youth and Studies

August Weismann was born as the son of high school professor Johann (Jean) Konrad Weismann (1804–1880), who had studied ancient languages ​​and theology , and his wife Elise (1803–1850), née. Lübbren, daughter of the district administrator and mayor of Stade. This was followed by a typical middle-class upbringing of the 19th century: at the age of four he received music lessons, at 14 he took drawing and painting lessons at the Frankfurt Städel Institute with Jakob Becker (1810–1872). His piano teacher was a dedicated butterfly collector and introduced him to collecting butterflies and caterpillars. However , after graduating from high school in Frankfurt in 1852, studying natural sciences was out of the question for reasons of cost and lack of career prospects. A friend of the family, the chemist Friedrich Wöhler (1800–1882), recommended studying medicine. A foundation from his mother's inheritance enabled Weismann to study in Göttingen in 1852 . After graduating in 1856, he wrote his dissertation on the formation of hippuric acid in the human body.

Beginning of professional life, first scientific work

Immediately after completing his studies, Weismann accepted an assistant position at the Rostock City Clinic . Here he matriculated at the university in May 1857 to study chemistry. He successfully submitted two papers, one on hippuric acid in herbivores and one on the salinity of the Baltic Sea, and won two prizes. The writing on the salt content dissuaded him from his desire to become a chemist, because he lacked pharmacist-like accuracy.

After a study trip to Vienna, where he visited museums and clinics, he passed his state examination as a doctor and settled in Frankfurt. During the Sardinian War between Austria, France and Italy in 1859 he joined the military as senior physician. During a leave of absence he traveled to Northern Italy and Tyrol. After studying in Paris in 1860 with Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire , Alphonse Milne-Edwards and others, he studied from 1860 to 1861 with Rudolf Leuckart (1822–1898) zoology at the University of Giessen , where he dealt with tissue science research, among other things then to serve again in Frankfurt am Main as personal physician to Archduke Stephan of Austria exiled from Austria at Schloss Schaumburg (1861–1863).

From 1863, the year of his habilitation in zoology in Freiburg, Weismann was a private lecturer, from 1865 an extraordinary professor, from 1867 a full professor and finally from 1873 until his retirement in 1912 full professor of zoology at the first chair for zoology in Freiburg and director of the zoological institute the University of Freiburg ; In 1883/84 he held the post of rector of the university. From 1873, Weismann dealt with the creatures in freshwater lakes and conducted research on Lake Constance , Lake Titisee , Lake Zurich and Lake Maggiore . In 1877, Weismann worked for the first time at the Naples Zoological Station , with whose founder Anton Dohrn he was friends. There he extended his research to the marine forms of the daphnoids, a taxon of crustaceans that was later referred to as Cladocera and has since been dissolved.

In 1867 he married Mary Marie Dorothea Gruber (* 1848), a daughter of the wealthy cloth merchant Friedrich Gruber , with whom he had five daughters and the son Julius Weismann (1879–1950, composer). His wife died in 1886. His second marriage was Wilhelmina Jesse in 1895; this marriage was divorced in 1901.

Weismann as an evolutionary biologist

At the beginning of Weismann's preoccupation with the theory of evolution there is a discussion of (Christian) belief in creation. In his printed lecture On the Justification of Darwin's Theory (1868) he compared the “old creation hypothesis” and the “transmutation hypothesis” with one another. It cannot be proven which of the two hypotheses is correct, but if necessary a hypothesis can be refuted by empirical facts. Weismann's methodological notes resemble the falsifiability of Karl Popper :

As we saw before, a scientific hypothesis can never be proved, but if it is false it can be refuted, and the question arises, therefore, whether facts can not be brought up which are in irreversible contradiction with one of the two hypotheses, and thus the same to make something fall. (P. 14 f.)

Weismann came to the conclusion that numerous biological facts can be freely interpreted in the sense of the theory of evolution, but remain incomprehensible if they are interpreted as the results of acts of creation. Since then, Weismann has been convinced of evolution, as well as of the basic assumptions of astronomy (the sun as the center of our planetary system).

As for the mechanism by which inheritance works for evolution, Weismann changed his position over the course of his life. Three phases can be identified here.

1868 to 1882

At the beginning, Weismann advocated theories that were widespread among scientists in the 19th century. Like Darwin, he attributes the observable variability of the individuals of a species to the inheritance of characteristics. He believed, as he wrote in 1876, in the "origin of transmutations (= change in species) on the path of the direct influence of external living conditions". "If one regards every variation as a reaction (sic!) Of the organism to external influences, as a diversion of the inherited direction of development, it follows that without a change in the outside world, no further development of the organic forms could have occurred." Even the classic Lamarckian formula of use and he does not use an organ .

1882 to 1895

In a lecture he gave on inheritance in 1883 , he first rejected all ideas about the inheritance of acquired traits. Just like he did when investigating belief in creation versus evolution, he put together numerous individual examples, which he tries to explain with both theses. For example: How can the special adaptations of the ants' individual worker and soldier boxes be explained if they never reproduce? An explanation is easily possible with the germplasm theory, but use and non-use cannot develop the desired effect here.

Examples that Darwin himself explained with use and disuse , such as the tendency to degenerate the wings and strengthen the feet in domesticated waterfowl, he now explained with the germplasm theory. Even so, his contemporaries were not convinced.

Weismann developed the concept of a germ line , a separate cell line that leads from the fertilized egg cell in the embryo to the primordial germ cells , the stem cells of the germ cells and thus the founder cells of the next generation. The concept and the term stem cells appear for the first time in the work The Origin of Germ Cells near Hydromeduses (Leipzig, 1883), which is illustrated with many copperplate engravings . Weismann recognizes that primordial germ cells can be put aside early in the embryo and do not take part in the construction of the embryo like the somatic cells. In the fly embryo he calls them “pole cells”. They are determined by special cytoplasmic components to form primordial germ cells, components that are today summarized as "germ plasm" based on Weismann, but this adoption of the term is not justified in this case. Weismann understands germplasm to mean the totality of the material carriers of heredity, which were unknown at the time and which, in his erroneous view, should only be assigned to the primordial germ cells. With regard to the splitting of generative, reproductive and somatic cells in multicellular organisms, Weismann points out that only the somatic cells perish. Single-cell organisms that do not have this split are potentially immortal.

1896 to 1910

Weismann worked on the germ development of sea urchin eggs, using the example of which he was able to observe different forms of cell division, the equation division and the reduction division, and thus introduced these terms into developmental biology .

Weismann's grave in the main cemetery in Freiburg

Retirement

Weismann worked at the University of Freiburg for over 50 years. He made her well known both domestically and abroad. From 1901 one of his daughters lived with him with their five children. After about two weeks of illness, Weismann died on November 5, 1914 of a weak heart. He was buried in the Freiburg main cemetery (field 48).

The Weismann barrier

Weismann's most important contribution to genetics is his postulate that changes caused by environmental influences on the body (the soma) of an individual cannot have any effect on the phenotype of the following generation. This results from his theory of the germplasm, which, according to his theory, is inherited to the following generation independently of the body cells in a path that is unique to him, the germline . This means that changes in body cells cannot be passed on. This results in an influence pointing in only one direction: changes in the germplasm cause changes in the body, but not the other way around. This finding is still associated with his name, referred to as the Weismann barrier .

Contrary to later beliefs, Weismann himself was convinced throughout his life that environmental influences affect the germplasm itself and can thus be inherited. However, this does not mean that acquired traits are inherited (known as Lamarckism ), as influences that affect physical characteristics will not correspond to changes in the chemical and molecular structure of the germplasm, which are the only ones inherited. Weismann did not yet have any knowledge of the physical nature and structure of genetic material, of chromosomes and genes; these concepts and ideas were only (re) discovered after his time. He assumed discrete structures of the germplasm, which he called “Id”, but which, unlike the genes, would have effects on the entire body. The term Id survived as part of technical terms such as haploidy and diploidy .

Honors

He was given the title of "real privy councilor ".

Weismann was a member of numerous academies and learned societies, such as the Leopoldina (1879), the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (1884 external member), the Prussian Academy of Sciences (1897 corresponding member), the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (since 1909), the Academy of the Sciences in Vienna (corresponding member), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (corresponding member), the Royal Society (June 30, 1910 "Foreign Member"), the Royal Society of Edinburgh (November 7, 1910, honorary member) and the National Academy of Sciences (1913). In 1905 he became an honorary member of the Society for Racial Hygiene, which was founded in Berlin that year .

In 1876 he was awarded the Cothenius Medal of the Leopoldina. In 1908 he was awarded the Darwin Medal by the Royal Society, and in the same year by the Linnean Society of London the Darwin-Wallace Medal .

The philosophy faculty of the University of Freiburg awarded him the Dr. phil. hc and named a building after him. In 1904, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, he was made honorary citizen of the city of Freiburg.

In Freiburg im Breisgau, a street in the Waldsee district is named after August Weismann and his son, Julius Weismann . The reason for the naming by the Freiburg city council in 1956 was the 75th birthday of Julius Weismann, whereby August Weismann should be honored after there had been resistance in the 1930s against August-Weismann-Straße in the clinic district.

In 2016, a "Commission for the Review of Freiburg Street Names" headed by the historian Bernd Martin proposed that Weismannstrasse be renamed "Julius-Weismann-Strasse" and given a supplementary sign with the following text. "Julius Weismann (1879-1950), composer. Formerly named after his father August Weismann (1834-1914), zoologist and pioneer of 'racial hygiene'". In 2017 the Commission revised its assessment and its original proposal was not followed.

reception

Weismann's "extremely deterministic and static theory of inheritance" was very well received in eugenics . "Weismann systematically combines in his theory elements of the theory of natural selection with inheritance of knowledge, resulting in a significant escalation of the selection principle." He was there mainly by Wilhelm Schallmayer rezipiert, as could be inferred from his theory "that education, better living conditions, individual hygiene or medical therapy could not improve the hereditary quality of people. ”“ With his thesis that there cannot be inheritance of acquired traits, a main argument against eugenics is questioned ”. Francis Galton ( Genius and Heredity ) refers to Charles Darwin and August Weismann in his rationale for the inheritance of human abilities and the need to regulate the genetic make-up in society. "The central formations of his inheritance theory, the germplasm theory, also form the theoretical basis for the development of the central dogma of molecular biology , on the validity of which the genetic engineering process is based."

Karl Ritter von Goebel wrote in a letter to Julius Sachs on June 25, 1886: “ Weismann is the same smart guy who declared death to be an 'adjustment'. It all comes back, the fashion and the nonsense of natural philosophy. "

Weismann's pupil included the zoologist and geneticist Alfred Kühn .

Publications

  • De acidi hippurici in corpore humano generatione . Frankfurt 1857 (inaugural dissertation).
  • About the origin of hippuric acid in the urine of herbivores . Göttingen 1857 (“An award document crowned by the medical faculty of Georgia Augusta on June 13, 1857”).
  • About the formation of hippuric acid in humans . In: Journal for rational medicine . Row 3, Vol. 2, No. 3 , 1858, ISSN  0259-7233 , p. 331-343 .
  • Investigations into the salinity of the Baltic Sea . In: Archives for regional studies in the Grand Duchies of Mecklenburg and Revüe der Landwirthschaft . Vol. 8, 1858, p. 289-304 .
  • Analysis of the Baltic Sea . In: Archives for regional studies in the Grand Duchies of Mecklenburg and Revüe der Landwirthschaft . Vol. 8, 1858, p. 437-444 .
  • About the formation of new nerves in a neuroma . In: Journal for rational medicine . Row 3, Vol. 7, No. 2 , 1859, ISSN  0259-7233 , p. 209-218 .
  • About the growth of the striated muscles according to observations on the frog . In: Journal for rational medicine . Row 3, Vol. 10, No. 2 , 1861, ISSN  0259-7233 , p. 263-284 .
  • About the finer structure of the human umbilical cord . In: Journal for rational medicine . Row 3, Vol. 11, No. 1/2 , 1861, ISSN  0259-7233 , p. 140-166 .
  • About the connection of the muscle fibers with their starting points . In: Journal for rational medicine . Row 3, Vol. 12, No. 1/2 , 1861, ISSN  0259-7233 , p. 126-144 .
  • About the formation of striated muscle fibers . A reply to Prof. Budge . In: Journal for rational medicine . Row 3, Vol. 12, No. 3 , 1861, ISSN  0259-7233 , p. 354-359 .
  • On the muscles of the heart in man and in the animal series . In: Archives for Anatomy, Physiology and Scientific Medicine . Born in 1861, 1861, p. 41-63 .
  • About the two types of contractile tissue and their distribution in the large groups of the animal kingdom, and about the histological significance of their formal elements . In: Journal for rational medicine . Row 3, Vol. 15, 1862, ISSN  0259-7233 , pp. 60-103, 279-282 .
  • The development of the diptera in the egg, according to observations on Chironomus spec., Musca vomitoria, and Pulex Canis . In: Journal of Scientific Zoology . tape 13 , no. 1/2 , 1863, p. 107-220 .
  • About the development of the perfect insect in larva and pupa . A contribution to the metamorphosis of insects . Brönner, Frankfurt 1863 (habilitation thesis of the medical faculty Freiburg im Breisgau).
  • The post-embryonic development of the muscids according to observations on Musca vomitoria and Sarcophaga carnaria . In: Journal of Scientific Zoology . tape 14 , no. 3 , 1864, p. 187-336 .
  • On the embryology of the insects . In: Archives for Anatomy, Physiology and Scientific Medicine . Leipzig 1864, p. 265-277 .
  • On the histology of the muscles . In: Journal for rational medicine . Row 3, Vol. 23, No. 1/2 , 1865, ISSN  0259-7233 , p. 26-45 .
  • The metamorphosis of the Corethra plumicornis . In: Journal of Scientific Zoology . tape 16 , no. 1 , 1866, p. 45-127 .
  • About the justification of Darwin's theory . Engelmann, Leipzig 1868.
  • About the Influence of Isolation on Species Formation . Engelmann, Leipzig 1872.
  • About the seasonal dimorphism of butterflies . In: Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova . tape 6 , 1874, pp. 209-302 .
  • About the structure and appearance of Leptodora hyalina Lilljeborg . In: Journal of Scientific Zoology . tape 24 , no. 3 , 1874, p. 349-418 .
  • On the transformation of the Mexican axolotl into an amblystoma . In: Journal of Scientific Zoology . 25, Suppl. 3, 1875, pp. 297-334 .
  • Animal life in Lake Constance . In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings . tape 7 , 1876, ISSN  0342-2070 , p. 132-161 .
  • About the ultimate causes of the transmutations. Studies on Descendence Theory . tape 2 . Engelmann, Leipzig 1876.
  • Contributions / To the natural history of the Daphnids / Daphnoids . In: Journal of Scientific Zoology . tape 27/28/33 , 1876, pp. 51-112 / 93-254 / 55-270 .
  • Justification . In: Journal of Scientific Zoology . tape 30 , no. 1 , 1877, p. 194-202 .
  • On the reproduction of the daphnoids . In: Official report of the meeting of German natural scientists and doctors in Munich . Vol. 50, 1877, pp. 178 .
  • with Robert Wiedersheim : From the Zoological and Anatomical Institute of the University of Freiburg i. Br . In: Zoologischer Anzeiger . Volume 1, No. 1 , 1878, ISSN  0044-5231 , p. 6-7 .
  • About the spot colors of the daphnoids . In: Journal of Scientific Zoology . 30, Suppl. 1, 1878, pp. 123-165 .
  • About the migration of birds . Habel, Berlin 1878. ( digitized version )
  • About scented scales . In: Zoologischer Anzeiger . Volume 1, No. 5 , 1878, ISSN  0044-5231 , p. 98-99 .
  • Parthenogenesis in the ostracodes . In: Zoologischer Anzeiger . Vol. 3, No. 49 , 1880, ISSN  0044-5231 , p. 82-84 .
  • On the question of the origin of the sex cells in the hydroids . In: Zoologischer Anzeiger . Vol. 3, No. 55 , 1880, ISSN  0044-5231 , p. 226-233 .
  • About the origin of the sex cells in the hydroids . In: Zoologischer Anzeiger . Vol. 3, No. 61 , 1880, ISSN  0044-5231 , p. 367-370 .
  • with August Gruber : About some new or imperfectly known Daphnids . In: Reports on the negotiations of the natural research society in Freiburg i. B . tape 7 , 1880, ISSN  0934-4926 , p. 50-116 .
  • Observations on hydroid polyps . In: Zoologischer Anzeiger . Volume 4, No. 75/77 , 1881, ISSN  0044-5231 , p. 61-64 / 111-114 .
  • L'origine des cellules sexual des hydroïdes . In: Annales des sciences naturelles . Zoologie et paleontologie . Ser. 6, Vol. 11, 1881, ISSN  0150-9330 , Art. 6.
  • About the length of life . In: Tageblatt of the meeting of German natural scientists and doctors in Salzburg . Vol. 54, 1881, pp. 98-114 .
  • Contribution to the knowledge of the first development processes in the insect egg . In: Contributions to anatomy and embryology as a Festgabe Jacob Henle on April 4, 1882 . Cohens, Bonn 1882, p. 80-111 .
  • On peculiar organs in Eudendrium racemosum Cav . In: Communications from the zoological station in Naples, at the same time a repertory for Mediterranean studies . tape 3 , no. 1/2 , 1882, p. 1-14 .
  • About the length of life . Fischer, Jena 1882.
  • The origin of the sexual cells in the hydromedus . At the same time a contribution to the knowledge of the structure and the life phenomena of this group . Fischer, Jena 1883.
  • About the eternity of life . Freiburg 1883.
  • About inheritance . Fischer, Jena 1883. (digitized version at archive.org)
  • About life and death . A biological study . Fischer, Jena 1884.
  • On the question of the immortality of the unicellular . In: Biological Centralblatt . tape 4 , no. 21/22 , 1885, ISSN  0006-3304 , p. 650-665 / 677-691 .
  • The continuity of the germ plasm as the basis of a theory of heredity . Fischer, Jena 1885.
  • To the assumption of a continuity of the germplasm . In: Reports of the Natural Research Society of Freiburg i. B . tape 1 , 1886, ISSN  0028-0917 , p. 89-100 .
  • On the question of inheritance of acquired traits . In: Biological Centralblatt . tape 6 , no. 2 , 1886, ISSN  0006-3304 , p. 33-48 .
  • On the history of heredity theories . In: Zoologischer Anzeiger . Volume 9, No. 224 , 1886, ISSN  0044-5231 , p. 344-350 .
  • Directional body in parthenogenetic eggs . In: Zoologischer Anzeiger . Volume 9, No. 233 , 1886, ISSN  0044-5231 , p. 570-573 .
  • Botanical Evidence of Inheritance of Acquired Traits . In: Biological Centralblatt . tape 8 , no. 3/4 , 1888, ISSN  0006-3304 , p. 65-79 / 97-109 .
  • with Ishikawa Kaoru : On the fertilization symptoms in the permanent eggs of Daphnids . In: Biological Centralblatt . tape 8 , no. 14 , 1888, ISSN  0006-3304 , p. 430-436 .
  • with Ishikawa Kaoru : On the formation of the directional bodies in animal eggs . In: Reports of the Natural Research Society of Freiburg i. B . tape 3 , no. 1 , 1888, ISSN  0028-0917 , p. 1-44 .
  • Thoughts on Music in Animals and Man . In: Deutsche Rundschau . tape 61 , 1889, pp. 50-79 .
  • Remarks on Ischikawa's attempts at reversing Hydra . In: Archives for microscopic anatomy . 1890, ISSN  0176-7348 , p. 627-638 .
  • Amphimixis or: The mixing of individuals . Fischer, Jena 1891.
  • Comments on some of the day's problems . In: Biological Centralblatt . tape 10 , no. 1/2 , 1891, ISSN  0006-3304 , p. 1-12 / 33-44 .
  • The continuity of the germplasm as the basis of a theory of heredity . 2nd revised edition. Fischer, Jena 1892.
  • The germplasm . A theory of inheritance . Fischer, Jena 1892. ( digitized and full text in the German text archive )
  • The omnipotence of natural breeding . A reply to Herbert Spencer . Fischer, Jena 1893. ( Digitized and full text in the German text archive )
  • External influences as developmental stimuli . Fischer, Jena 1894.
  • New thoughts on the question of inheritance . An answer to Herbert Spencer . Fischer, Jena 1895.
  • New experiments on the seasonal dimorphism of butterflies . In: Zoological Yearbooks . Department for Systematics, Geography and Biology of Animals . tape 8 , no. 5 , 1895, ISSN  0044-5193 , p. 611-684 .
  • How do the insects see? In: Deutsche Rundschau . tape 83 , 1895, pp. 434-452 .
  • Facts and Interpretations relating to Regeneration . In: Anatomischer Anzeiger . Centralblatt for the entire scientific anatomy . tape 15 , no. 23 , 1899, ISSN  0003-2786 , p. 445-474 .
  • On the parthenogenesis of bees . In: Anatomischer Anzeiger . Centralblatt for the entire scientific anatomy . tape 18 , no. 20/21 , 1900, ISSN  0003-2786 , pp. 492-499 .
  • Lectures on the theory of descent . Fischer, Jena 1902.
  • Attempts to regenerate tritons . In: Anatomischer Anzeiger . Centralblatt for the entire scientific anatomy . tape 22 , no. 20/21 , 1903, ISSN  0003-2786 , pp. 425-431 .
  • Semons "mnemes" and the "inheritance of acquired properties" . In: Archives for Racial and Social Biology including Racial and Social Hygiene . Vol. 3, No. 1 , 1906, p. 1-27 .
  • A hydrobiological introduction . In: International review of the entire hydrobiology and hydrography . tape 1 , no. 1/2 , 1908, p. 1-9 .
  • The selection theory . Fischer, Jena 1909.
  • About the defensive position of the evening peacock eye . In: Scientific weekly . Ser. nov., vol. 8, no. 46 , 1909, ISSN  0369-3430 , p. 721-726 .

literature

  • Frederic B. Churchill: August Weismann. Development, heredity, and evolution . Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 2015, ISBN 978-0-674-73689-4 .
  • Frederick B. Churchill, Helmut Risler (eds.): August Weismann. Selected letters and documents . Freiburg / Breisgau University Library, Freiburg 1999.
  • Klaus-Günther Collatz: Weisman, August Friedrich Leopold . In: Lexikon der Biologie , Volume 8, Herder, Freiburg, Basel, Vienna 1987, ISBN 3-451-19648-4 , p. 421 f.
  • Peter E. Fäßler: August Weismann : In: Badische Biographien NF 4, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-17-010731-3 , pp. 312-314 ( digitized version ).
  • Wolfram Forneck: The inheritance of individually acquired traits . Depicted at the dispute between August Weismann and Herbert Spencer . Norderstedt 2014, ISBN 978-3-7357-9153-5 .
  • Ernst Gaupp : August Weismann . His life and his work . 1917 (with extensive bibliography). Digitized in the Internet Archive http: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Daugustweismannse00gaupuoft~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3DDigitalisat%20im%20Internet%20Archive~PUR%3D
  • Hans-Peter Kröner: Weismann, August. In: Werner E. Gerabek u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopedia of medical history. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1470.
  • Rolf Löther: pioneers of genetics: Gregor Johann Mendel and August Weismann. Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-8171-1130-4
  • Andreas Mettenleiter : Testimonials, memories, diaries and letters from German-speaking doctors. Supplements and supplements III (I – Z). In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 22, 2003, pp. 269-305, here: p. 300.
  • Helmut Risler: August Weismann 1834–1914 . In: Reports of the Natural Research Society of Freiburg i. Br . tape 58 , no. 1 , 1968, ISSN  0028-0917 , pp. 77-93 .
  • Klaus Sander : August Weismann (1834-1914) . Naturalists and theorists of general biology . In: Biology in Our Time . Volume 14, No. 6 , 1984, ISSN  0045-205X , pp. 189-193 .
  • Klaus Sander (Ed.): August Weismann (1834–1914) and the theoretical biology of the 19th century. Certificates, reports and analyzes (= Freiburg University Gazette 87/88). ISSN 0016-0717, Rombach, Freiburg 1985.
  • Martin Schwarzbach: In the footsteps of our naturalists . Monuments and plaques. A travel guide . Hirzel, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-7776-0365-1 , p. 93-94 .
  • Report on the celebration of August Weismann's 70th birthday on January 17, 1904 in Freiburg i. Breisgau . Jena 1904.
Obituaries
  • Reinhold von Hanstein: August Weismann . In: Scientific weekly . Ser. nov., Vol. 14, No. 8/9 , 1915, ISSN  0369-3430 , p. 113-120, 129-136 .
  • Fritz Mauthner : Small memories of August Weismann . In: Berliner Tageblatt and Handels-Zeitung . Volume 43, No. 620 , December 6, 1914.
  • EBP: August Friedrich Leopold Weismann, 1834–1914 . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London . Ser. B, Vol. 89, 1917, ISSN  0080-4649 , pp. 27-34 .
  • Heinrich E. Ziegler: August Weismann . In: The new Rundschau . Vol. 26, Vol. 1, 1915, ISSN  0028-3347 , pp. 117-124 .
Obituaries in newspapers
  • J. Strohl: August Weismann . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Swiss Handelsblatt. Morning paper . Volume 135, No. 1528/1533 , November 13, 1914, ISSN  0376-6829 .
  • Ernst Teichmann: On August Weismann's death . In: Frankfurter Zeitung and Handelsblatt. Evening paper . Vol. 59, No. 309 , November 7, 1914, pp. 1 .
  • August Weismann † . In: Berliner Tageblatt and Handels-Zeitung. Morning edition . Volume 43, No. 567 , November 7, 1914.
  • August Weismann † . In: Swabian Mercury. Evening paper. Swabian Kronik . No. 521 , November 7, 1914.
  • Privy Councilor August Weismann † . In: Freiburg newspaper . Independent daily newspaper. Special edition (evening paper) . Volume 131, No. 304 , November 6, 1914, p. 2 . ( Digital )

Web links

Commons : August Weismann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: August Weismann  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Dorothee Obermann-Jeschke: Eugenics in change: continuities, breaks and transformations . An analysis of the history of discourse . Unrast, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-89771-748-0 , p. 58 f .
  2. ↑ Registration of August Weismann in the Rostock matriculation portal .
  3. ↑ Sander 1985, p. 32.
  4. ↑ Gaupp 1917, p. 43 ff.
  5. ^ Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : August Weismann - a "forerunner" of Poppers . In: Conceptus . Philosophy journal . Vol. 20, No. 50 , 1986, ISSN  0010-5155 , pp. 99 f .
  6. ↑ Rasmus G. Winter (2001): August Weismann on Germ-Plasm Variation. Journal of the History of Biology 34: 517-555.
  7. ^ David Haig (2007): Weismann Rules! OK? Epigenetics and the Lamarckian temptation. Biology and Philosophy 22: 415-428. doi: 10.1007 / s10539-006-9033-y
  8. ↑ Member entry by August Weismann at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 10, 2016.
  9. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. August Weismann (with picture) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on June 10, 2016.
  10. ↑ Prof. Dr. August Weismann in the membership directory of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences
  11. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 21, 2020 .
  12. ^ Institutsviertel (natural sciences) / Rectorate - Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. Retrieved September 10, 2019 .
  13. ^ Final report of the commission to review the Freiburg street names
  14. ↑ Citizens' Association Oberwiehre-Waldsee: Justice for August Weismann
  15. ↑ Dorothee Obermann-Jeschke, 2008. p. 59.
  16. ↑ Drechsel 1993, p. 100 f.
  17. ↑ Schwarzbach 1981, p. 93.
  18. ^ Ernst Klee : German Medicine in the Third Reich. Careers before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-10-039310-4 , p. 356.
personal data
SURNAME Weismann, August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weismann, Friedrich Leopold August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biologist and evolution theorist
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1834
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH November 5, 1914
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau