The Riddle of the Universe at the Close of the Nineteenth Century [Second Edition]
About this ebook
This is the Second Edition, first published in 1901, and includes a Translator’s Preface by Joseph McCabe.
About the author
ERNST HEINRICH PHILIPP AUGUST HAECKEL (16 February 1834 - 9 August 1919) was a German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist, and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogony, ecology, phylum, phylogeny, stem cell, and Protista. He also promoted and popularised Charles Darwin’s work in Germany.
Born in Potsdam (then part of Prussia), he completed studies at the Domgymnasium, the cathedral high school of Merseburg in 1852 and then studied medicine in Berlin and Würzburg. He also attended botany lectures in Würzburg. He received his doctorate in medicine, (M.D.) in 1857, followed by his license to practice medicine.
He continued studies at the University of Jena for three years, earning a doctorate in zoology, before becoming a professor of comparative anatomy at the University of Jena, where he remained for 47 years (1862-1909). He was awarded the title of Excellency by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1907 and the Linnean Society of London’s prestigious Darwin-Wallace Medal in 1908.
Prof. Haeckel died in Jena in 1919, aged 85.
