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Ernst Haeckel’s contribution to Evo-Devo and scientific debate: a re-evaluation of Haeckel’s controversial illustrations in US textbooks in response to creationist accusations

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Abstract

As Blackwell (Am Biol Teach 69:135–136, 2007) pointed out, multiple authors have attempted to discredit Haeckel, stating that modern embryological studies have shown that Haeckel’s drawings are stylized or embellished. More importantly, though, it has been shown that the discussion within the scientific community concerning Haeckel’s drawings and the question of whether embryonic similarities are convergent or conserved have been extrapolated outside the science community in an attempt to discredit Darwin and evolutionary theory in general (Behe in Science 281:347–351, 1998; Blackwell in Am Biol Teach 69:135–136, 2007; Pickett et al. in Am Biol Teach 67:275, 2005; Wells in Am Biol Teach 61:345–349, 1999; Icons of evolution: science or myth? Why much of what we teach about evolution is wrong. Regnery Publishing, Washington, 2002). In this paper, we address the controversy surrounding Haeckel and his work in order to clarify the line between the shortcomings and the benefits of his research and illustrations. Specifically, we show that while his illustrations were not perfect anatomical representations, they were useful educational visualizations and did serve an important role in furthering studies in embryology.

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Source: Google images, Page source: http://radaractive.blogspot.de/2013/07/darwinist-hall-of-shame-ernst-haeckel.html, Accessed 22 May 2017

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Notes

  1. Throughout our paper, the term “embryo grids” refers to illustrations in which you have a horizontal comparison and vertical comparison of embryonic development from different species of animals. Typically, the horizontal level shows embryos from different species at similar stages of development, while the vertical columns depict the path by which those embryos develop towards a fully developed specimen of the given species.

  2. For information on Haeckel’s illustrations school books in the German Democratic Republic see “Ernst Haeckel’s embryology in biology textbooks in the German Democratic Republic, 1951–1988” in this same special issue (Hossfeld et al. 2019).

  3. Although it should be clearly stated that this proliferation came after George John Romanes’ (1848–1894) publication Darwin and After Darwin (1892) where he reproduced many of Haeckel’s drawings. So, while it could be said that these reproductions came via Romanes, the influential drawings, in particular the comparative grids, were originally drawn by Haeckel (Hopwood 2015, p. 214) and are referred to as Haeckel’s work throughout this paper.

  4. Calcareous sponges.

  5. See: https://evolutionisntscience.wordpress.com/evolution-frauds/ (Accessed September 18, 2017) Where the author describes the Haeckel drawings and makes such statements, “One of the most popular and familiar pieces of evidence used to bolster the theory of evolution—reproduced for decades in most high school and college biology textbooks—is fraudulent, and has been known to be fraudulent for nearly 100 years… Haeckel’s fraudulent drawings are just one of evolution’s pillars now under spectacular scientific assault.”

  6. (Wells 1999, 2002).

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  1. This article is a contribution to the Special Issue Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919): The German Darwin and his impact on modern biology—Guest Editors: U. Hossfeld, G. S. Levit, U. Kutschera.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Education Research Group, Institute for Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

    Elizabeth Watts & Uwe Hossfeld

  2. Institute for Biology, Universität Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Str. 40, 34109, Kassel, Germany

    Georgy S. Levit

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Watts, E., Levit, G.S. & Hossfeld, U. Ernst Haeckel’s contribution to Evo-Devo and scientific debate: a re-evaluation of Haeckel’s controversial illustrations in US textbooks in response to creationist accusations. Theory Biosci. 138, 9–29 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12064-019-00277-3

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