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Anton Dohrn at a microscope in his laboratory
Anton Dohrn at a microscope in his laboratory

Felix Anton Dohrn ( September 29, 1840 - September 26, 1909) was a prominent German Darwinist and the founder and first director of the Stazione Zoologica, Naples, Italy. Events 522 BC - Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire. Year 1840 ( MDCCCXL) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Darwinism is a term used for various different movements or concepts related to a greater or lesser extent to Charles Darwin 's work on Evolution. The Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn is a Research institute in Naples, Italy, devoted to basic research in biology Naples ( Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule) is a historic City in southern Italy, the Capital of the Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest

Contents

Family history

Dohrn was born in Stettin (Szczecin), Pomerania, into a wealthy middle class family. For the present-day Polish provinces see Pomeranian Voivodeship and West Pomeranian Voivodeship. The middle class, in colloquial usage consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social Influence or power. His grandfather, Heinrich Dohrn, had been a wine and spice merchant, and had made the family fortune by trading in sugar. Wine is an Alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of Grape juice A spice is a dried Seed, Fruit, Root, Bark or vegetative substance used in Nutritionally insignificant quantities as a Food additive Merchants function as professionals who deal with Trade, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves in order to produce Profit. Sugar is a class of edible Crystalline substances mainly Sucrose, Lactose, and Fructose. This wealth allowed Anton's father, Carl August, to devote himself to his various hobbies; travelling, folk music and insects. Carl August Dohrn ( June 27, 1806 &ndash1892 was a German entomologist. Anton, the youngest son, read zoology and medicine at various German universities (Königsberg, Bonn, Jena and Berlin), with little application or enthusiasm for his studies. Zoology (from Greek ζῷον, zoon, "animal" + λόγος, " Logos " "knowledge" is the branch of Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the The University of Königsberg (Albertus-Universität Königsberg was the University of Königsberg, East Prussia. The University of Bonn ( German: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (FSU is located in Jena, Thuringia in Germany and was renamed for the German writer Friedrich Schiller

Introduction to Darwinism

His ideas changed in summer 1862 when he returned to study at Jena, where Ernst Haeckel introduced him to Darwin's work and theories. Jena (pronunciation ˈjeːna is a university City in central Germany on the river Saale. Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel ( February 16, 1834 — August 9, 1919)also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life Dohrn became a fervent defender of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008

At that time comparative embryology was the keystone of morphological evolutionary studies, based on Haeckel's recapitulation theory, the idea that an organism during its embryonic development passes through the major stages of the evolutionary past of its species. Embryology (from Greek grc ἔμβρυον embryon, "unborn embryo" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study of the development The theory of recapitulation, also called the biogenetic law or embryological parallelism, and often expressed as Ontogeny recapitulates Phylogeny An embryo (from Greek:, plural, lit "that which grows" from en- "in" + bryein "to swell be full" is a multicellular In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. Morphology became one of the major ways in which zoologists sought to expand and develop Darwinian theory in the latter years of the 19th century. Dohrn chose to become a "Darwinian morphologist".

Dorhn received his doctorate in 1865 at Breslau, and his Habilitation in 1868 at Jena. A doctorate is an Academic degree that indicates the highest level of academic achievement Wrocław (Breslau Vratislav Vratislavia or Wratislavia Yiddish: ברעסלוי) is the chief City of the historical region of Lower Silesia Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a person can achieve by their own pursuit in certain European and Asian countries During these times, he worked several times at facilities located on by the sea: Helgoland alongside Haeckel in 1865, Hamburg in 1866, Millport, Scotland with David Robertson in 1867 and 1868 and moved to Messina, Italy, during the winter of 1868 together with his Russian friend and colleague Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai. Heligoland (Helgoland Heligolandic: deät Lun) is a small German Archipelago in the North Sea. Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Dr David Robertson FLS, FGS (1806 - 1896 was a Scottish Naturalist who founded the University Marine Biological Station Millport. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Nicholai Nicholaevich Miklukho-Maklai ( Николай Николаевич Миклухо-Маклай in Russian, ( Микола Миколайович Миклухо-Маклай

Development of "marine stations"

In Messina, Dohrn and Micloukho-Maklai conceived a plan to cover the globe with a network of zoological research stations, analogous to railway stations, where scientists could stop, collect material, make observations and conduct experiments, before moving on to the next station. Dohrn realised how useful it would be for scientists to arrive at a location and find a ready to use laboratory. Dohrn rented two rooms for the "Stazione Zoologica di Messina", but quickly realized the technical difficulties of studying marine life without a permanent structure and support facilities, such as trained personnel and a library.

Foundation of the Stazione Zoologica

In 1870 Dohrn decided that Naples would be a better place for his Station. The Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn is a Research institute in Naples, Italy, devoted to basic research in biology Naples ( Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule) is a historic City in southern Italy, the Capital of the This choice was due to the greater biological richness of the Gulf of Naples and also to the possibility of starting a research institute of international importance in a large university town that itself had a strong international element. Biodiversity is the variation of Life forms within a given Ecosystem, Biome or for the entire Earth. The Gulf of Naples is located in the south western coast of Italy ( Province of Naples, Campania region

After a visiting a newly opened aquarium in Berlin he decided the charging the general public to visit an aquarium might earn the laboratory enough money to pay a salary to a permanent assistant. Naples, with a population of 500,000 inhabitants, was one of the largest and most attractive cities of Europe and also had a considerable flow of tourists (30,000 a year) that would be potential visitors to the aquarium.

Dohrn overcame the doubts of the city authorities and persuaded them to give him, free-of-charge, a plot of land at the sea edge, in the beautiful Villa Comunale on the condition that he promised to build the Stazione Zoologica at his own expense. The Villa Comunale is the most prominent and visible park in Naples, southern Italy.

Dohrn opened the station to visiting scientists in September 1873, and to the general public in January 1874.

In 1875 he published "Der Ursprung der Wirbelthiere und das Princip des Functionswechsels: Genealogische Skizzen" which proposed the "turn over" theory of the origin of vertebrates.

The "Bench" system

In order to promote the international status of the Stazione and to guarantee its economic and hence political independence and freedom of research, Dohrn introduced a series of innovative measures to finance his project. Political freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression Firstly, the rental of work and research space (the "Bench system"), for an annual fee universities, governments, scientific institutions, private foundations or individuals could send one scientist to the Stazione for one year where he or she would find available all that was required to conduct research (laboratory space, animal supply, chemicals, an exceptional library and expert staff). These facilities were supplied with no strings attached, in the sense that investigators were completely free to pursue their own projects and ideas.

This system worked extremely well, and when Anton Dohrn died in 1909 more than 2,200 scientists from Europe and the United States had worked at Naples and more than 50 tables-per-year had been rented out. It was in fact at Naples that international scientific collaboration in the modern sense was invented, based on quick and free communication of ideas, methods and results.

Legacy

Map showing location of the Anton Dohrn Seamount
Map showing location of the Anton Dohrn Seamount

The success of the Stazione Zoologica, and the new way of thinking and funding research are the main legacies of Dohrn. The model was copied a number of times throughout the world. In 1878 Johns Hopkins University founded the Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory, under the direction of W.K. Brooks. William Keith Brooks LLD PhD (1848-1908 was an American zoologist born in Cleveland Ohio, March 25 1848 Then, in 1888, the Marine Biological Laboratory was founded at Woods Hole and in 1892 the first laboratory on the west coast, the Hopkins Marine Station, opened in California. The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL is an international center for research and education in biology and ecology Woods Hole is a Census-designated place (CDP in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Hopkins Marine Station is the marine laboratory of Stanford University. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. In Britain, current marine laboratories that originate from this time include the Dunstaffnage Marine Station (today SAMS, 1884), the Gatty Marine Laboratory (University of St Andrews, 1884), the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (Plymouth, 1888), the Dove Marine Laboratory (Newcastle University, 1897), the Fisheries Research Laboratory (Aberdeen, 1899), and the Bangor Marine Station (Queen's University of Belfast, 1903). The University of St Andrews is the oldest University in Scotland and third oldest in the English-speaking world, having been founded between Plymouth ( is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England about south west of London. Newcastle University is a leading research intensive University located in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north-east of England. Aberdeen ( pronounced; Aiberdeen Obar Dheathain is Scotland 's third most populous city and one of Scotland's 32 local government council Queen's University Belfast is a university in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Dohrn's name has been immortalised in an undersea feature, the Anton Dohrn Seamount, a seamount in the Rockall Trough, to the north-west of the British Isles, which has become known for the great biodiversity which lives on the cold-water coral, Lophelia pertusa, in this region. The Anton Dohrn Seamount is a Guyot in the Rockall Trough in the northeast Atlantic. A seamount is a Mountain rising from the Ocean Seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface ( Sea level) and thus is not an Island The Rockall Trough ( Scottish Gaelic: Clais Sgeir Rocail) is a deep-water bathymetric feature to the northwest of Scotland and The British Isles (Irish variously Na hOileáin Bhriotanacha, Oileáin Iarthair Eorpa, Éire agus an Bhreatain Mhór; Ellanyn Goaldagh Eileanan Lophelia pertusa is a species of cold-water Coral which grows in the deep waters throughout the North Atlantic ocean

Entomology

Felix Dohrn shared his fathers interest in entomology. Entomology (from Greek grc ἔντομος entomos, "that which is cut in pieces or engraved/segmented" hence "insect" and grc -λογία Before his death he presented the Entomological Society of Stettin, of which he was a member, with his world collection of Hemiptera

References

External links

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