Ludwig Doederlein

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Ludwig Döderlein (January 1, 1883)

Ludwig Heinrich Philipp Döderlein (born March 3, 1855 in Bergzabern , † April 23, 1936 in Munich ) was a German zoologist .

Döderlein worked especially on the echinoderm tribe , especially on sea ​​urchins and sea ​​lilies . He was one of the first western zoologists who had the opportunity to conduct research in Japan from 1879 to 1881 . As director and curator of the Zoological Museum of Strasbourg , he made important contributions from 1882 to 1919. From 1923 to 1927 he headed the Zoological State Collection and was professor of systematic zoology at the University of Munich .

Life

Ludwig Döderlein was born in Bergzabern in the Palatinate on March 3, 1855. From 1864 to 1873 pupil at the grammar school in Bayreuth , he first studied natural sciences from 1873 to 1875 in Erlangen , where he was assistant to Emil Selenka at the zoological institute there in the summer of 1875 . During his studies in 1873 he became a member of the C. St. V. Uttenruthia Erlangen . In the years 1875–76, two semesters took him to Munich, where he passed the teaching examination for natural sciences. To finish his studies, Döderlein chose Strasbourg, where he received his doctorate on June 26, 1877 at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. From 1876 to 1878 he was an assistant for four semesters at the Zoological Institute under Professor Eduard Oscar Schmidt in Strasbourg. But the prospects for an academic career were unfavorable at the time, so that Döderlein initially earned his living as a teacher in an Alsatian high school. He therefore gratefully accepted the offer of a lectureship in descriptive natural sciences at the Medical Faculty of the University of Tokyo .

Title of the font that established Döderlein's fame (1883)

Ludwig Döderlein was one of the first Western European zoologists to bring Japan into the country as part of the Meiji restoration and the associated modernization. From 1879 to 1881 he mainly devoted himself to marine zoological studies - initially without even boarding a ship. The fruits of the sea were delivered to the zoologist's doorstep, where he - as often as possible - visited the Tokyo fish market, which at that time represented the main supply point for 1 million residents. Later he went on numerous excursions to the Enoshima peninsula in the north of Sagami Bay . Here, too, he went to fish markets for his studies and, after he had sufficient knowledge of the language, went catching with the fishermen himself. Despite the difficult circumstances that the preservation and the long transport route brought with it, Döderlein was able to take an extensive collection back to Europe. The fish collection alone consisted of over 400 species. He also brought various invertebrates such as glass sponges , bog animals , crabs , sea ​​lilies , sea ​​urchins and corals . Döderlein's merit is that he was the first to draw the world's attention to the unusual biodiversity of Sagami Bay. The irony of history: Döderlein's teaching contract at the University of Tokyo was not extended - on the grounds that he had neglected his actual teaching duties.

Tattooed hand of a resident of the island Amami Oshima from Döderlein (1881)

After his return from Japan, Döderlein became a conservator in 1882 and director of the zoological collection in Strasbourg in 1885 . His rich collections formed the basis for working on the fauna of the Far Eastern seas, to which he dedicated a large part of his life. In 1883 he completed his habilitation at the local faculty of zoology, became a professor in 1891 and was given a teaching post for zoology, in particular systematics and biology, in Strasbourg in 1894. A disease of the larynx that occurred around the turn of the century impaired his career insofar as he was denied a full professorship in zoology because he could no longer fully participate in teaching. To cure this disease, he traveled to Biskra in Algeria in early 1901 and also used this involuntary stay to study the marine fauna. The almost forty years as director of the Strasbourg museum, which was rebuilt and furnished according to his plans, was the most fruitful period in Döderlein's life. It was suddenly interrupted by the outcome of the First World War . Due to his national attitude, he was expelled from Alsace in 1919 by the French government . He had to leave Strasbourg within a very short time, his rich collections and his private fortune were confiscated.

After a long search, Döderlein found acceptance in the Zoological State Collection in Munich through the mediation of the then director Carl Zimmer (zoologist) . In 1921 he became an honorary professor of zoology at the University of Munich. 1920/1921 he was President of the German Zoological Society . After Zimmer became director of the Zoological Museum of the University of Berlin , Döderlein took over the management of the Zoological State Collection in Munich at the end of 1923, which he held until March 1927. At the same time Döderlein was given the teaching position for systematic zoology at the University of Munich in 1923 , which he held and exercised until the last days of his life. In 1933 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . Since 1921 he was a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

The sea lily Teliocrinus asper described by Döderlein was captured on the First German Deep Sea Expedition in 1898/99

Scientific work

Döderlein's life's work is the expansion of the theory of evolution in zoological systematics and thus the development of systematic zoology from a modern point of view based on genetic aspects. An astonishing sense of form and an excellent memory enabled him to recognize and determine animal shapes from all classes in the shortest possible time. This ability not only made him an extremely fruitful teacher of systematic zoology, but also enabled him, like few zoologists, to include the entire animal kingdom from his own knowledge in his considerations when examining scientific questions. Döderlein was a systematic specialist for two groups, for echinoderms and for fossil and recent mammals , especially their osteology . Döderlein was the processor for the echinoderms of the great marine biological ventures of his time, such as the first German deep-sea expedition under the direction of Carl Chun , the Siboga expedition under the direction of Max Weber, the German south polar expedition under the direction of Erich von Drygalski , the Australian collecting trips by Wilhelm Michaelsen and Robert Hartmeyer as well as Richard Semon , as well as the research trip of the Swiss cousins ​​Paul and Fritz Sarasin to Ceylon. He wrote a work on corals based on the material of Alfred Voeltzkow , who stayed in East Africa and Madagascar between 1887 and 1896 .

In the paleontological field he became known for his work on Triassic echinoderms and pterosaurs . In 1890 a summary of the fossil vertebrates was created in the work "Elements of Palaeontology", which was written together with Gustav Steinmann . In the epistemological field he introduced the concept of the “law of inertia” in the phylogenetic organ development (1887). The work “About the Relationships of Closely Related Animal Forms” (1902) has become of fundamental importance for the entire systematic zoology. In it, Döderlein particularly examined the concept of species in all directions and gave it a formulation suitable for modern biology. Based on the extreme views that the study of species in corals on the one hand and in birds on the other hand must lead, he clearly stated even then that theoretically there are no natural species, that in practice the concept of species is tied to the existing gaps in our knowledge about the connections between different animal forms.

One of his last and most mature works, the identification book for German land and freshwater animals , which contains the insects , molluscs and vertebrates in three volumes, is an expression of the versatile systematic knowledge . As the only zoologist in this century, Döderlein was able to write such a book covering all animal groups without the support of other specialists.

Fonts

  • About the skeleton of the Tapirus pinchacus. Inaugural dissertation. Strasbourg, 1877
  • The Liu Kiu Island Amami Oshima. Communications from the German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia (Issue 24): 1–31 - Yokohama: Printing house of the "Echo du Japon", 1881
  • Faunistic Studies in Japan. Enoshima and the Sagami-Bai. Archive for Natural History, 49: 102–123, Berlin: Nicolaische Verlags-Buchhandlung, 1883
  • Sea urchins from Japan and the Liu Kiu Islands. Archive of Natural History 51 (1): 73–112, Berlin: Nicolaische Verlags-Buchhandlung, 1885
  • The Japanese sea urchin. I. Part family Cidaridae and Saleniidae. 59 p. 11. Plates. E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1887 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.11293
  • Echinoderms from Ceylon. Report on the Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea and Echinoidea collected by Messrs. Dres Sarasin. Zoological yearbooks (systematics) 3 (6): 821–846, Jena: Fischer, 1888. Full text
  • About the acquisition of the ability to fly in vertebrates. Zoological Yearbooks / Department for Systematics, Ecology and Geography of Animals, 14, pp. 49–61, 1901. Full text
  • Relationships between closely related animal forms. Journal of Morphology and Anthropology 4, 1902
  • The echinoids of the German deep-sea expedition. Scientific results of the German deep-sea expedition on the steamer “Valdivia” 1898-1899, Volume 5 (2): 61–290 - Jena: Fischer, 1906 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.46999
  • The stalked crinoids of the Siboga expedition. Siboga expedition. Uitkomsten op zoölogisch, botanisch, oceanographisch en geological area verzameld in Nederlandsch Oost-Indie 1899-1900 aan boord HM "Siboga". 42 (a): 1-54, Leiden: EJ Brill, 1907 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.11369
  • About Japanese and other Euryalae. Contributions to the natural history of East Asia; Treatises of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, supplement to the treatises of the mathematical and natural science class, Suppl. II, Abh. 5: 123 S. - Munich: Beck, 1911 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.16334
  • The stalked crinoids of the German deep-sea expedition. Scientific results of the German deep-sea expedition on the steamer "Valdivia" 1898-1899, Volume 17 (1): 1–34 - Jena: Fischer, 1912
  • The asterids of the Siboga Expedition. I. The genus Astropecten and their tribal history. Siboga expedition. Uitkomsten op zoölogisch, botanisch, oceanographisch en geological area verzameld in Nederlandsch Oost-Indie 1899-1900 aan boord HM "Siboga". 46 (a): 1–191, Leiden: EJ Brill, 1917 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.11319
  • The asterids of the Siboga Expedition. II. The genus Luidia and its tribal history. Siboga expedition. Uitkomsten op zoölogisch, botanisch, oceanographisch en geological area verzameld in Nederlandsch Oost-Indie 1899-1900 aan board HM "Siboga". 46 (b): 193-293, Leiden: EJ Brill, 1920
  • The ophiuroids of the German Deep Sea Expedition. Scientific results of the German deep-sea expedition on the steamer "Valdivia" 1898-1899, Volume 22 (6): 347–396 - Jena: Fischer, 1927
  • The starfish of the German South Polar Expedition, 1901-1903. German South Polar Expedition 1901–1903 19 (Zoologie 11): 291-301 Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1928
  • Identification book for German land and freshwater animals. 3 volumes. Oldenbourg, Munich / Berlin, 1931–1932.
  • The asterids of the Siboga Expedition. III. Oreasteridae. Siboga expedition. Uitkomsten op zoölogisch, botanisch, oceanographisch en geological area verzameld in Nederlandsch Oost-Indie 1899-1900 aan boord HM "Siboga". 46 (c): 71-110, Leiden: EJ Brill, 1935
  • The asterids of the Siboga Expedition. III. The subfamily Oreasterinae. Siboga expedition. Uitkomsten op zoölogisch, botanisch, oceanographisch en geological area verzameld in Nederlandsch Oost-Indie 1899-1900 aan boord HM "Siboga". 46 (c): 295-369, Leiden: EJ Brill, 1936
  • Steindacher, F., Döderlein, L. Contributions to the knowledge of Japan's fish. (I). - Memoranda of the mathematical and natural science class of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Volume 47: 1-34, 1883
  • Steinmann, G., Döderlein, L. Elements of palaeontology. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 848 S, 1890

literature

  • Hubert Erhard; Werner Quenstedt :  Döderlein, Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 16 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Gustav Adolf Mueller (Ed.): Germany, Austria-Hungary and Switzerland scholars, artists and writers in words and pictures. Volger, Leipzig-Gohlis 1908.
  • W. Koch: Ludwig Döderlein. In: Journal of Mammals . Volume 12, 1938, pp. 304-309,
  • H. Krieg: Ludwig Döderlein in memory. In: Negotiations of the Ornithological Society of Bavaria. Volume 21, No. 1, 1936, pp. 70-71.
  • T. Nishikawa (Ed.): Preliminary taxonomic and historical studies on Prof. Ludwig Döderlein's collection of Japanese animals made in 1880-81 and deposited at several European museums. Graduate School of Human Informatics, Nagoya 1999.
  • C. Eckert, D. Janussen: The glass sponges of the Sagami Bay and their exploration. In: Nature and Museum. (Frankfurt). Volume 135, No. 5/6, 2005, pp. 105-116.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Goebel (ed.): Directory of members of the Schwarzburgbund. 8th edition, Frankfurt am Main 1930, p. 62 No. 563.
  2. ^ Member entry by Ludwig Döderlein (with links to obituaries) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on January 26, 2017.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Döderlein, Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Döderlein, Ludwig Heinrich Philipp (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Bergzabern
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1936
Place of death Munich