Curt Herbst

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Curt Alfred Herbst (born May 29, 1866 in Meuselwitz near Altenburg in Thuringia , † May 9, 1946 in Heidelberg ) was a German zoologist.

In the early days of developmental physiology, Herbst had introduced the larvae of the echinoderms, a particularly suitable research object for determining the influence of ions (particularly lithium ions) on the morphogenesis of the germ, on the so-called animal-vegetative gradient of the germ. Later he worked on sex determination and discovered the effectiveness of ions for sex determination in the porcupine worm Bonellia viridis .

From 1886, Herbst studied natural sciences with a focus on zoology, first in Geneva and then in Jena, among others with Carl Vogt and Ernst Haeckel . In 1889 he received his doctorate in philosophy in Jena. After a research trip with Hans Driesch to Ceylon, Java and the Middle East, he took on an assistant position at the Zoological Institute of the University of Jena for a short time . In 1890, Herbst went to the Polytechnic in Zurich to acquire in-depth knowledge of chemistry. Years of traveling together and research with Hans Driesch followed, including at the Naples Zoological Station , the Trieste Sea Station , in India, Egypt and Russia. In 1901, Herbst completed his habilitation with Otto Bütschli in Heidelberg and in 1906 became an associate professor there. In 1906 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1913 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Halle . From 1914 to 1919, Herbst was an external member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology . In 1919, Herbst succeeded Bütschlis at the Heidelberg chair for zoology, which he held until his retirement in 1935. After that, Herbst worked scientifically at the marine biological stations in Naples and Rovigno . In 1920 he became a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences .

Herbst's students included the philosopher Helmuth Plessner , who completed his zoological studies with Bütschli and Herbst in Heidelberg in order to be able to work on the “deep tensions that existed between science and philosophy”. After Curt Herbst, the “Herbstsche Körperchen”, a nerve end corpuscle in birds in the beak skin, near the bellows and in the skins that connect the bones of the rear extremities, is named. The Herbst bodies function as pressure or touch receptors. They are part of the mechanical sense in birds.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Member entry by Curt Herbst at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on March 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ Prof. Dr. Curt Herbst. Member entry at the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences , accessed on March 13, 2016 .
  3. ↑ See: Helmuth Plessner: The stages of the organic and the human, Third unchanged edition, Berlin, New York 1975, Walter de Gruyter, page III, foreword to the first edition. There Plessner refers to his "zoological years" in Heidelberg.
  4. ↑ Erwin J. Hentschel, Günther H. Wagner: Dictionary of Zoology, 7th edition, Munich 2004, Elsevier Verlag, page 258 f., Article "Herbstsche Körperchen"
personal data
SURNAME Fall, Curt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Herbst, Curt Alfred (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Meuselwitz near Altenburg in Thuringia
DATE OF DEATH May 9, 1946
Place of death Heidelberg