Heinz Christian Pander
Heinz Christian Pander, also Christian Heinrich Pander (24 July 1794 – 22 September 1865),
was a Baltic German biologist and embryologist born in Riga.
 |
| Heinz Christian Pander |
In 1817 he received his doctorate from the University of Würzburg, and
spent several years (1827–1842), performing scientific research from
his estate in Carnikava (German: Zarnikau) on the banks of the Gauja
River near Riga. In 1820 he took part in a scientific expedition to
Bokhara as a naturalist. In 1826 he became a member of the St.
Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Pander studied the chick embryo and
discovered the germ layers (i.e., three distinct regions of the embryo
that give rise to the specific organ system). Because of these findings,
he is considered by many to be the "founder of embryology". His work in embryology was continued by Karl Ernst von Baer (1792-1876),
who expanded Pander's concept of germ layers to include all
vertebrates. Pander performed important studies in the field of
paleontology, and was the first scientist to describe primitive
creatures known as conodonts. He also conducted extensive research on
fossils found in the Devonian and Silurian geological strata of the
Baltic regions. His study of trilobites from this age led to the
adjective 'Panderian', first used by the Canadian palaeontologist, Elkanah Billings.
No comments:
Post a Comment