Karl Ernst von Baer

Karl Ernst von Baer (German: Karl Ernst von Baer), February 17, 1792 - November 28, 1876, the famous Russian naturalist, one of the founders of embryology and comparative anatomy, an academician of the Saint-Petersburg Academy of Sciences, President of the Russian Entomological Society.

A native of Estonia, Baer graduated from the Medical Faculty of the University of Dorpat, was a professor of zoology in Koenigsberg. From 1829 to 1862, with a small break, academician of St. Petersburg.

Many traveled to study in Russia, 1851-56 studied fishing on Lake Peipus, Baltic and Caspian Seas ("Research on the state of fisheries in Russia", 1860 et seq.). Karl Baer worked mainly embryology, the founder of which it can be assumed craniologist and anthropology.

Research
In 1826 Baer discovered the ovum of mammals. This discovery was made public in the form of a message addressed to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which elected him a corresponding member.

Another very important discovery, made by Baer - a discovery chorda (chord), the foundations of internal skeleton of vertebrates.

Charles Baer in their writings on embryology formulated laws which were later called "Baer laws." Subsequently, these laws have been partially revised and popularized by Ernst Haeckel and Charles Darwin.

Despite Darwin's use of embryology to support his views, Von Baer rejected the theory of common descent and did not regard embryological similarities as evidence for evolution.

Major Works

 * "The message about the development of eggs of mammals and humans» («Epistola de ovi mammalium et hominis genesi», 1827);
 * "History of Animals" («Über die Entwickelungsgeschichte der Thiere», 1828; 1837)
 * "Investigation of fish" («Untersuchungen Entwickelung der Fische», 1835)
 * Material for neta knowledge of soil ice in Siberia - monograph (1842)
 * Reports on travel of Baer - in the "Memoires" and "Bulletins" SPB. academy of sciences.

Reference
Бэр, Карл