Heinz Christian Pander

Christian Heinrich Pander ( Latvian Kristiāns Heinrihs fon Pander; * 12 Julijul / July 23 1794greg in Riga, .. .. † 10 Septemberjul / September 22 1865greg in St. Petersburg ) was a deutschbaltischer embryologist, zoologist and paleontologist. He developed the revolutionary cotyledon model as a basic model in embryology, dealt with "Evolution" and interpreted for the first time the enigmatic conodonts properly.

General, origin, years of study

The day that is little known Pander among the most innovative scientists of the early 19th century. He formulated a still valid today embryology model, already held in the 20s of the 19th century unrestricted Artwandel for given and put fundamental work to paläozischen fish and fish tanks before.

Pander came from a German merchant family in Riga. His father was the banker Johann Martin Pander (1765-1842), his grandfather a well-known merchant. Pander attended the German School in Riga and studied medicine at the German 1812-1814 Tartu University, where he heard the anatomist and physiologist Karl Friedrich Burdach and friend of Karl Ernst von Baer. He received his PhD after studying in Göttingen and Berlin in 1817 at the University of Würzburg with Ignaz Dollinger.

Embryology

Through his dissertation of 1817 Pander founded the cotyledon concept, which is still used today in embryology. This model describes the embryogenesis as development of three germ layers, the ecto-, meso-and endoderm ( Pander still serous leaf, vascular leaf and mucus sheet called ). For this purpose he had in common with angebrütet Dollinger and the significant draftsman and anatomist Eduard Joseph d' Alton 2000 chicken eggs in an incubator, systematically opened and described in defined time intervals. Pander's thesis lies in two very different versions of it: the Latin describes the development of the whole organism in the first 5 or 7 days ( Dissertatio inauguralis ), the German parallel development of individual organs or organ systems ( Contributions to the history of development of the chick in the Eye ). The Latin version has no illustrations, which contains the German and artistically significant engravings d' Alton.

With the evidence of development of cotyledons Pander achieved the decisive for the embryological research scientific breakthrough: embryonic development was neither unfolding of what already exists ( preformation ), still forming from unformed ( epigenesis ), but the development of ever more diverse membranes (ie, metamorphosis, a conscious of Goethe borrowed term ). Pander cotyledon model was further expanded and applied to other groups of animals, including humans by Baer in his important monograph embryological Over evolutionary history of animals ( 2 vols Königsberg 1828/1837 ). The book was dedicated to the " childhood friends Pander ".

Comparative Anatomy

Together with d' Alton took Pander 1818 a study tour to Southern and Western Europe (Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, UK, France ). Here collections and museums, extinct South American giant sloth ( Megatherium ) were visited, including Madrid newly reconstructed and studied the comparative anatomy of invertebrates ( Cephalopden ) to the seashores. Purpose of the trip was to explore the comparative anatomy (especially mammals and birds), a work that culminated in the osteology 14bändigen comparative. In addition to the meticulous description of the theoretical passages of interest, where on the unlimited variability of species (caused by changes in food habits, climate change, etc. ) Pander and D' Alton reflect. For the reconstruction of the behavior of extinct animals they came forth their extant nearest relatives. To distinguish which passages here of pander, which originate from d' Alton today, is no longer safe to do. Individual volumes of comparative osteology, was praised reviewed by Goethe, who was a personal friend of d' Alton. Charles Darwin also mentioned the 1st volume of the work as a "precursor " in his Origin of Species.

1820 took Pander together with Georg von Meyendorff and Eduard Friedrich Eversmann in an expedition from Orenburg to Central Asia ( Bukhara) part. In 1825 he married Amalie Wilhelmine von Scherer ( 1805-1861? ), In 1826 he became a member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Later years: Paleontology and Geology

Between 1827 and 1842 explored Pander of his estate in Carnikava ( Koivemunde ) of the fossils in the shore sediments of the Gauja ( Livonian Aa)

1856 described Pander which is important for the stratigraphy as index fossil group of fossil conodonts first time scientifically. The nature of these enigmatic fossils, which were interpreted as " worms ", a long time was controversial and could be resolved only in the 80s of the 20th century: these are as described by Pander to "teeth" (pine structures) of " fishing" ( chordates ). The British Pander Society, which systematically deals with conodonts, called after the discoverer and describer, it awards the Medal Pander, its members call themselves ironically as "the Panderers ".

1857 Pander was the Demidov Prize (Russian Демидовская премия ) awarded, one of the most important and oldest Russian scientific awards.

Death, afterlife, meaning

Pander since the early 1820s had been suffering from a serious, " feverish " not known disease, possibly malaria. He died in September 1865 in St. Petersburg.

Through his first description of the conodonts, but above all he has his cotyledon concept an outstanding importance of his century. To him also remember some scientific eponyms: the Upper Devonian coelacanth genus Panderichthys ( a transitional form between fish and terrestrial vertebrates ), the genus Panderia ( Goosefoot family, Chenopodiaceae ), the brachiopods Panderina and Panderschen organs in trilobites.

Publications

Embryological work

  • Dissertatio inauguralis sistens historiam metamorphoseos quam ovum incubatum prioribus quinque Diebus subit. Würzburg 1817. (Latin dissertation Pander )
  • Contributions to the embryology of the chick in the Eye, Würzburg 1817 ( German dissertation Panders with stitches d' Alton )
  • Les textes de embryologiques Christian Heinrich Pander (1794 - 1865) ( ed. by Stéphane Schmitt), Turnhout: Brepols, 2003, ISBN 2-503-52180-0 (bilingual edition of the embryological texts)

Comparative anatomical work

  • Comparative ( with Eduard Joseph d' Alton ) osteology, 14 volumes, Bonn: Weber, 1821-1838 Volume I, 1: The giant sloth, Bradypus giganteus, mapped, described and compared with the related families, Bonn 1821 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volume I, 2: The skeletons of Pachydermata, Bonn 1821 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volume I, 3: The skeletons of beasts of prey, Bonn 1822 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volume I, 4: The skeletons of ruminants, Bonn 1823 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volumes I, 5 and I 6: The skeletons of rodents (Part 1 and 2), Bonn 1823, 1824 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volume I, 7: The skeletons of four-handed, Bonn 1824 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volume I, 8: The skeletons of toothless animals, Bonn 1825 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volume I, 9: The skeletons of seals and Lamantine, Bonn 1826 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volume I, 10: The skeletons of cetaceans, Bonn 1827 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volume I, 11: The skeletons of marsupials, Bonn 1828 (together with EJ d' Alton )
  • Volume I, 12: The skeletons of Chiropteren and insectivores, Bonn 1831 ( just the two of d' Alton, father and son)
  • Volume II, 1: The skeletons of the ostrich -like birds, Bonn 1827 (only by Eduard d' Alton this year)
  • Volume II, 2: The skeletons of birds of prey, Bonn 1838 ( only on the two d' Alton )

Geological- paleontological work

  • Contributions to the natural history of the Baltic provinces of Russia, 1820 Dorpat
  • Fossil fish of the Russian Baltic provinces, several volumes, St. Petersburg: Academy of Sciences, 1856-1860 Volume 1: Monograph of the fossil fishes of the Silurian system of the Russian Baltic provinces, St. Petersburg 1856
  • Volume 3: About the Ctenodipterinen the Devonian System, St. Petersburg 1858
  • Volume 4: About the Saurodipterinen, Dendrodonten, Glyptolepiden and Cheirolepiden of the Devonian system, St. Petersburg 1860

Pictures of Heinz Christian Pander

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