Rudolf Leuckart

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Rudolf Leuckart

Karl Georg Friedrich Rudolf Leuckart (born October 7, 1822 in Helmstedt , † February 6, 1898 in Leipzig ) was a German zoologist and the founder of parasitology .

Life

family

Rudolf Leuckart was the son of the book printer owner and councilor Gottfried Leuckart and nephew of the physician and natural history professor Friedrich Andreas Sigismund Leuckart (1794–1843). His mother Friederike Dorothea Charlotte (1785–1834) was the daughter of the coppersmith, copper trader and brewer Leberecht Christian Philipp Theuerkauf (1739–90) from Helmstedt.

Professional background

Zoological Institute (1880), Leipzig
Gravestone Rudolf Leuckart, Lapidarium Alter Johannisfriedhof , his grave was on the New Johannisfriedhof in Leipzig

After attending grammar school in Helmstedt, Rudolf Leuckart studied medicine and natural sciences in Göttingen from 1842 and was entrusted by Rudolf Wagner with the continuation of his lectures on general natural history and with the completion of his textbook on zootomy . On December 13, 1845, Leuckart received his doctorate with honors in Göttingen, and as assistant to Rudolf Wagner at the Physiological Institute, he completed his habilitation in 1847 as a private lecturer in zoology and physiology. For the habilitation thesis, Leuckart had carried out studies mainly on the North Sea . In it he presented a new system of invertebrates that quickly made him known.

In 1850 he went to Giessen as an associate professor of zoology . Leuckart's scientific work relates particularly to the exploration of life, structure and becoming, to the anatomical-physiological analysis of animals, especially the lower animals. Together with Carl Bergmann he published the anatomical-physiological overview of the animal kingdom in 1852 . Comparative anatomy and physiology , in which the invertebrates were first treated in detail alongside the vertebrates. In 1855, at the age of 33, he was given a full professorship in Giessen.

Now known throughout Europe, he followed a call to Leipzig in 1869 as professor of zoology and zootomy. Not only his specialist knowledge, but also his excellent reputation as a teacher - his lectures were always well attended - made him interesting for the universities, which were then dependent on paying students. In Leipzig, in addition to his normal work, he oversaw the planning of a new institute building with an attached museum. Not least the prospect of this museum made him turn down an offer (1871) from the University of Strasbourg . The building on the corner of Brüderstrasse and Talstrasse was inaugurated in 1880 and housed the institute, the museum with around 60,000 exhibits and the official residence. Leuckart lived there with his family.

Together with Heinrich Frey, he demonstrated the existence of two essentially different levels of organization within the zoophytes (fixed marine animals) and separated them into the two groups of coelenterates and echinoderms . Due to his work on the organizational relationships of the state jellyfish (Siphonophora) he came to the theory of polymorphism following the principle of division of labor first expressed by Henri Milne Edwards .

Through his investigations into the micropyle of insect eggs (1855) and the parthenogenesis of insects (1858), the reproduction of cattle lice (1862) and viviparous fly larvae (1865), he contributed significantly to the reform of the doctrine of conception . Furthermore, he was able to prove through filtrate tests that fertilization takes place by the sperm.

He clarified the life history of the intestinal worms, especially the trichinae and the tapeworms or bladder worms, as well as the great liver fluke through numerous, sometimes very laborious, experiments. He was able to prove for the first time that beef tapeworms ( Taenia saginata ) develop exclusively in cattle and pork tapeworms ( Taenia solium ) exclusively in pigs. Through his studies on Trichinella spiralis and the elucidation of the life cycle of this roundworm , he significantly supported Rudolf Virchow's campaign to inspect meat for Trichinella fins.

In the period between 1877 and 1892 the well-known blackboards, initiated by Rudolf Leuckart, were created, on which various authors depicted representatives of the animal kingdom in great detail: "for use at universities and schools". Hinrich Nitsche , who signed “HN”, drew the first twelve panels .

Many honors testify to the respect paid to Leuckart for his achievements. Among other things, the German Zoological Society , whose first president he was from 1890 to 1891, made him its first honorary member, he became an honorary citizen of Leipzig, and the Leipzig sculptor Carl Seffner was commissioned to make a marble bust of him in honor of Leuckart, which is now in Is owned by the University of Leipzig . In 1853 Leuckart was appointed a member of the Leopoldina . In 1859 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . In December 1864 he became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . Since 1868 he was a foreign member of the Bavarian and since 1869 a full member of the Royal Saxon Society of Sciences in Leipzig. In 1877 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1887 to the corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1861 he was accepted as a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg , and since 1895 he has been its honorary member. Leuckert was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1895 . On April 5, 1889, he became a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences . He was a member of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors .

Marriage and offspring

Rudolf Leuckart married Amélie Henke (1827–1921) from Halle in Schönberg (Odenwald) , the daughter of the lawyer and professor of law in Halle Eduard Henke (1783–1869). The couple had at least four children together. Son Rudolf became a chemist and university professor in Göttingen. One of the daughters married Hermine Otto Karlowa , Professor of Legal History and Romance Studies in Heidelberg.

Fonts

  • with Heinrich Frey : Contributions to the knowledge of invertebrates , Braunschweig, 1847 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.2128
  • About the morphology and relationships of invertebrates , Braunschweig, Vieweg 1848 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.11549
  • On the morphology and anatomy of the genital organs , Braunschweig, 1848
  • Contributions to the teaching of fertilization , Göttinger Nachrichten, 1849
  • On the polymorphism of individuals or the phenomena of the division of labor in nature , Giessen, 1851
  • R. Leuckart, Bergmann, Comparative Anatomy and Physiology , Stuttgart, 1852
  • Zoological research , Giessen, 1853–54, 3 booklets doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.11410
  • The bladder worms and their development: At the same time a contribution to the knowledge of the cysticercus liver , Giessen, 1856
  • The reproduction and development of the pupipars , Halle, 1857 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.2867
  • For the knowledge of the generation change and the parthenogenesis in insects , Meidinger, Frankfurt M. 1858 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.66065
  • Studies on Trichina spiralis , Leipzig, Winter 1860, 2nd ed. 1866
  • On the efforts towards unity in zoology: speech by the incoming rector , University of Leipzig 1877
  • with Hinrich Nitsche : Explanations on the zoological blackboards . Published by Theodor Fischer, Cassel 1877 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.5710
  • The parasites of humans and the diseases resulting from them , Leipzig, 1863–76, 2 vol .; 2nd edition 1879 ff.
  • General natural history of parasites. with special consideration of the species parasitic in humans . CF Winter, Heidelberg 1879. doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.46773
  • The history of the development of the liver fluke ( Distonum hepaticum , German) , in: Zoologischer Anzeiger 4, 1881
  • New contributions to the knowledge of the baes and the life history of the nematodes , in: Abbh. Royal Saxon. Ges. Wiss. Math-phys. Cl 1887
  • Leuckart Rudolf, Nitsche Hinrich (Hg): Explanations to the zoological wall panels. T. Fischer, Cassel 1892.
  • Spongiological contributions . CF Winter'sche, Leipzig 1892. doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.61018
  • Leuckart Rudolf et al .: Systematic index of the completely published zoological wall panels of invertebrates. No. 1-100. T. Fischer, Cassel 1894.

For the handbook of ophthalmology by Graefe and Samisch he provided a detailed description of the comparative anatomy of the eye, from 1857 he wrote the reports on the scientific achievements in the natural history of lower animals , Berlin, 1859 ff. And he also gave the blackboard Die Anatomie der Biene , Kassel 1885.

Honors

The German Society for Parasitology has awarded the Rudolf Leuckart Medal since 1974 to researchers who have distinguished themselves through significant work in the field of parasitology. This medal was donated by the Giessen zoologists in memory of Rudolf Leuckart.

literature

Web links

Commons : Rudolf Leuckart  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ According to Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie , see literature.
  2. ↑ Leuckart Rudolf: About the morphology and the relationships of invertebrates. A contribution to the characteristics and classification of animal forms. F. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1848.
  3. ↑ Leuckart Rudolf et al .: Systematic index of the completely published zoological wall tables of invertebrates. No. 1-100. T. Fischer, Cassel 1894.
  4. ↑ Redi CA et al. (Ed): Visual Zoology: The Pavia collection of Leuckart's zoological wall charts (1877). Como, Ibis (Veronesi) 2002, p. 34 there.
  5. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 149.
  6. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed January 1, 2020 .
  7. ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Karl Georg Friedrich Rudolf Leuckart. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Members of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors 1857
personal data
SURNAME Leuckart, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leuckart, Karl Georg Friedrich Rudolf (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist and founder of parasitology
DATE OF BIRTH October 7, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH Helmstedt
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 1898
Place of death Leipzig