Otto Zacharias

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Otto Zacharias

Otto Zacharias (born January 27, 1846 in Leipzig , † October 2, 1916 in Kiel ; full name Emil Otto Zacharias ) was a German zoologist , plankton researcher and journalist .

Life

Otto Zacharias studied in Leipzig , among others, mathematics , philosophy , and zoology . He obtained his doctorate in 1869. Phil. With the dissertation on some metaphysical differences between Herbart and Kant . He then worked as a private scholar in Italy. For many years he worked as a journalist, mainly devoting himself to the popular science communication of complex topics in biology. To this end, he corresponded for a long time with leading scientists and writers in Prussia as well as in other European and non-European countries. Among them: Ernst Haeckel , Charles Darwin , Rudolf Virchow , Joseph Kürschner and Wilhelm Bölsche . On April 1, 1892, Zacharias was able to open the first "biological station" for freshwater research on German soil as a private research institute on the Great Plöner See with financial support from the Prussian government and several private individuals . The model for this was the zoological station in Naples founded by Felix Anton Dohrn in 1870 and already highly recognized at the time . Today the building at Eutiner Straße 4 is used as a restaurant and by the Plön sailing club .

"Old Ferry House" on the Great Plöner See

As director, Zacharias published the research reports from the biological station in Plön from 1893 . He continued the journal quarterly in 1905 as an archive for hydrobiology and plankton science, which became a leader in freshwater science. In so-called “holiday courses”, Zacharias trained teachers and interested laypeople in working with the microscope .

The station was later taken over by the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science and directed by August Thienemann . The successor institution, the Max Planck Institute for Limnology, was no longer in the historical building, but in Plön . That institute was replaced by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in April 2007 . Its three departments, each with a director for genetics, ecology and theory, employ a total of around 150 people. Diethard Tautz heads the genetics department .

Works (selection)

  • Charles Darwin and the cultural-historical significance of his theory of the origin of species . Berlin 1882.
  • The lower animal world of our inland lakes . Verl.-Anst. u. Dr. A.-G., Hamburg 1889 ( digitized version )
  • About solved and unsolved problems in nature research . 2nd edition Leipzig 1891.
  • Catechism of Darwinism . Leipzig 1891.
  • The fauna and flora of fresh water . 2 vols. Leipzig 1891.
  • The plankton . Leipzig 1907.

literature

  • N. Wetzel, R. Nöthlich: From "Homo literatus" to "Self made man" - The career of Emil Otto Zacharias . In: Mauritiana , 19 (2006), Heft 3, pp. 463-477.
  • R. Nöthlich, N. Wetzel, U. Hoßfeld, L. Olsson: “I acquired the pig immediately, had my paws chopped off after it was stabbed, and the like. sent the same to Darwin ”- Otto Zacharias's correspondence with Ernst Haeckel (1874–1898) . In: Annals of the history and philosophy of biology , 11 (2006), pp. 177–248.
  • AW Daum: Science Popularization in the 19th Century. Civil culture, scientific education and the German public, 1848–1914 . Munich: Oldenbourg 1998.

Web links

Wikisource: Otto Zacharias  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zirnstein Gottfried: Zacharias, Emil Otto. In: Biographisches Lexikon für Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck, Volume 10. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1994, pp. 392–395.
  2. ↑ Wetzel, N. / Nöthlich, R .: From "Homo literatus" to "Self made man" - The career of Emil Otto Zacharias. In: Mauritiana, 19 (2006), Heft 3, pp. 463-477.
  3. ^ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Vol. 20, Leipzig 1909, p. 831.
  4. ↑ Cf. Zacharias, O .: Summer courses in hydrobiology and plankton science at the Biological Station in Plön, in: Archives for hydrobiology and plankton science 4 (1909), pp. 267–272.
  5. ^ Böttcher Ralph: Rodents with contact difficulties. In: Kieler Nachrichten , September 12, 2016, p. 18
personal data
SURNAME Zacharias, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zacharias, Emil Otto (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist, plankton researcher, journalist
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1916
Place of death Kiel