Karl Ernst Baer's contributions to biology. Biomedical and agricultural sciences

(1792-1876) Russian naturalist, founder of embryology

Karl Maksimovich Baer was born on February 28, 1792 in the town of Pipa, Estonian province, in a poor large family retired lieutenant. The boy received his initial education at home, after which he studied for four years at high school in Revel (Tallinn), after graduating from which he entered the medical faculty of the university in Derit (Tartu). Student years Karl Baer coincided with Patriotic War 1812

The young man, overwhelmed by a patriotic impulse, took part in it as a volunteer physician. In 1814, he graduated from the university with the title of Doctor of Medicine, having defended a dissertation on diseases common in Estonia. Considering a university education insufficient for independent medical practice, Karl Baer went to Vienna and then to Germany in order to acquire practical medical knowledge.

In 1817 he was invited to work in Konigsberg, with Professor K.F. Burdakh, and in 1819 he became a professor of zoology at the University of Konigsberg. It was here in 1819-1830. Karl Maksimovich Baer conducts his work on embryology, which earned him worldwide fame. He begins by studying the development of the chick embryo. In less than 4 years, the scientist examined more than two thousand embryos, spreading them in water using thin needles and examining them under a magnifying glass and microscope. Later, embryos of crustaceans, insects, and mammals are studied in the same way.

The works of Karl Baer are rich in new discoveries. These primarily include the opening of the egg in mammals, in particular in humans, and the opening of the dorsal chord in vertebrates. In addition, it was he who, in his research, was able to expand knowledge about the formation of germ layers in the process individual development animals.

Of particular interest in biology is the so-called law of germinal similarity formulated by Baer. The essence of this law is as follows. In the early phase of development, the embryos of all vertebrates, regardless of their belonging to one class or another, are so similar to each other that they are difficult to distinguish from each other. Later, in a certain sequence, the embryos begin to show signs of a class, order, family and genus. Species specificity appears only at the end of embryogenesis. These conclusions, based on rich experimental material, convincingly refuted the prevailing early XIX century, the position that the embryos of higher animals pass through stages in their development corresponding to the adult forms of lower organisms.

The law of germline similarity was taken into account by Charles Darwin when substantiating the theory of evolution.

In 1834, Karl Maksimovich Baer returned to Russia, to St. Petersburg. With the move, the young academic's life changes dramatically. scientific interests and lifestyle. In his new place he is attracted by the boundless expanses of Russia. The vast but little explored Russia of that time required comprehensive study. And the biologist becomes a geographer-traveler and explorer natural resources countries. He leads expeditions to New Earth, islands of the Gulf of Finland, Kola Peninsula, Volga region. Studies the geography, flora and fauna of the Black, Azov, and Caspian seas.

Studying the patterns of formation of river valleys, the scientist found that rivers flowing along the meridian have a steeper western bank due to the fact that it is eroded by the current, which is deflected under the influence of the Earth's rotation. This position is known in geography as Baer's law. Karl Baer was one of the initiators and founders of the Russian Geographical Society, which still exists today and in which he was chosen as first vice-president.

Since the early 50s, Karl Maksimovich Baer has been interested in ethnography and anthropology, especially craniology (the study of the skull). Having used improved methods for measuring skulls, which made it possible to objectively compare the craniological characteristics of people of different races, the scientist came to important, fundamental conclusions about the nature of racial differences. His main conclusion was the assertion of the unity of origin of all human races, undoubtedly belonging to the same species. Existing racial characteristics - skin and hair color, differences in facial features and skull shape, in his opinion, are insignificant and do not provide grounds for separation human race for different types.

In 1864, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, celebrating its 50th anniversary scientific activity scientist, presented him with a large medal and established the Baer Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of natural sciences. Its first laureates were the young Russian embryologists A. O. Kovalevsky and I. I. Mechnikov, the brilliant creators of comparative evolutionary embryology.

A cape on Novaya Zemlya, an island in the Taimyr Bay, and a ridge of hills in Caspian lowland(Baer mounds).

Baer Karl Maksimovich is one of the most versatile and outstanding naturalists of modern times, the founder of embryology. However, he is known not only as an embryologist, but also as an outstanding ichthyologist, travel geographer, anthropologist and ethnographer. One of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society. Baer was born on February 17 (29), 1792 in Estonia, near Tallinn. He received his secondary education at the Revel Noble School. Beginning in 1810, he studied medicine in Dorpat (now Tartu) and comparative anatomy in Würzburg.

After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Dorpat, Baer worked in Austria and Germany, and since 1819 he has been a professor at the University of Königsberg. Here Baer first worked as a dissector at the Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, and then as a professor and director of the anatomical theater at the local university. During this period, Baer studied invertebrate zoology, embryology and comparative anatomy. He conducted embryological research especially intensively. In 1819, he was appointed a member of the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg, but Baer soon returned to his previous job in Königsberg, where in 1826 he received the chair of anatomy. In the same year, Baer returned to St. Petersburg again, where he took the position of professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

In 1837, Baer led a scientific expedition to Novaya Zemlya on the schooner Krotov. The main task of this expedition, unlike all previous ones to Novaya Zemlya, was to study its geological structure and familiarize itself with the fauna and flora. The expedition achieved excellent scientific results, becoming an important step in the study of the Arctic. Collections of up to 90 plant species and up to 70 invertebrate species were collected. Geological research allowed us to conclude that Novaya Zemlya was formed in the Silurian and Devonian eras. In 1838, Baer published the results of his research. He developed projects for new expeditions to the Arctic, pointing out the importance of studying its climate and the need to conduct geophysical observations. Baer, ​​along with F.P. Litke (q.v.) and F.P. Wrangel (q.v.), was one of the founders of the IRGO. In 1861 he received the highest award of the IRGO - the Great Constantine Medal. Baer's works had not only purely scientific, but also applied significance. In particular, this concerns his work on the study and rationalization of fisheries on Lake Peipus, in the Azov and Caspian Seas.

Baer was the first to discover an egg in a human. He came to the conclusion about germ plasm and the similarity of the first stages of embryo development in all multicellular animals, including humans, which later gave him the opportunity to create the foundations of a new scientific branch - comparative embryology. He discovered the egg in mammals, described the blastula stage, studied the embryogenesis of the chicken, established the similarity of the embryos of higher and lower animals, the theory of the sequential appearance in embryogenesis of characters of type, class, order, etc. He described the development of the main organs of vertebrates. Baer discovered a way to develop the most characteristic organ of these animals - the spinal column. Comparing the embryos of vertebrate animals of various classes (fish, amphibians, mammals), he found that they were all similar to each other in the early stages of development. Baer is rightfully considered one of the founders of physical anthropology. Expresses evidence-based ideas regarding the monophyletic origin of man and his races, and the influence of environmental conditions on the physical type. Baer was the first in Russia to use the method of craniology to study the origin of ethno-territorial human groups. Special works devoted to the deformation of skulls and craniology of the medieval Slavic population. The craniological research program presented by K.M. Baer in 1861 formed the basis of modern methods.

In 1828, Baer was awarded the title of ordinary professor. At this time he had already become famous as one of the most prominent biologists in Europe. Baer was also interested in ecology - the science of the relationship between an organism and the environment.

Baer's scientific activity was closely connected with practice: he did a lot in the field of fishing and fish farming. In particular, K. M. Baer studied fishing on Lake Peipus, the Baltic (1851-1852) and Caspian seas. Especially great importance have Baer's expeditions to the Caspian Sea (1853-1856). Here he explored the local fauna and studied the state of fisheries on the Volga and Caspian Sea. He found out the geological past of the Caspian Sea, its hydrochemical and temperature conditions and a number of other questions.

In 1862, the Academy of Sciences elected Baer as an honorary member, and in 1864 solemnly celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his scientific activity. Karl Maksimovich Baer died on November 16, 1876.

Karl Maksimovich Baer(Karl Ernst) (1792-1876) - naturalist, founder of embryology, one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society, foreign corresponding member (1826), academician (1828-30 and 1834-62; honorary member since 1862) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Born in Estland. Worked in Austria and Germany; in 1829-30 and from 1834 - in Russia. Discovered the egg cell in mammals, described the blastula stage; studied chick embryogenesis.

Karl Baer established the similarity of embryos of higher and lower animals, the sequential appearance in embryogenesis of characters of type, class, order, etc.; described the development of all major organs of vertebrates. Explored Novaya Zemlya and the Caspian Sea. K. Baer - editor of a series of publications on Russian geography . Explained the pattern of erosion of river banks (Beer's law: rivers flowing in the direction of the meridian, in the Northern Hemisphere, wash away the right bank, in the Southern Hemisphere, the left bank. Explained by the influence of the daily rotation of the Earth on the movement of water particles in the river.).

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Karl Ernst von Baer Biology teacher Kuzyaeva A.M. Nizhny Novgorod

Karl Ernst von Baer (February 17, 1792 - November 28, 1876) Karl Ernst von Baer, ​​or, as he was called in Russia, Karl Maksimovich Baer, ​​one of the founders of embryology and comparative anatomy, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, president of the Russian Entomological Society, one of the founders Russian Geographical Society. Ichthyologist, geographer, anthropologist and ethnographer.

Baer was born on February 28, 1792 on his father’s estate Pin, Estonian province (Tartu, Estonia); Baer's father, Magnus von Baer, ​​belonged to the Estonian nobility. Home teachers taught Karl. In August 1807, the boy entered a noble school in Revel. in 1810 - 1814 he studied medicine at the University of Dorpat and in 1812 - 1813 he had the opportunity to study it practically in a large military hospital in Riga. In 1814, Baer passed the examination for the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

To improve his science, Karl Baer went to Germany, where, under the leadership of Dellinger, he studied comparative anatomy in Würzburg; met Nees von Esenbeck, who provided big influence to his mental direction. Since 1817, Baer has been Burdach's prosector in Königsberg. In 1819 he was appointed extraordinary, and soon after that ordinary professor of zoology. In 1826 he was appointed ordinary professor of anatomy and director of the anatomical institute. In the same year, Baer discovered the mammalian egg. In 1828, the first volume of the famous “History of Animal Development” appeared in print. In 1829 he was invited as an academician and professor of zoology at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Johann Döllinger Nes von Esenbeck

In the summer of 1837 he made a trip to Novaya Zemlya, where no naturalist had ever been before. In 1839, Baer traveled to explore the islands of the Gulf of Finland. In 1840 he visited the Kola Peninsula. Behr, in 1840, began to publish, together with Helmersen, a special journal at the academy, entitled “Materials for Knowledge.” Russian Empire ».

Since 1841, Baer was appointed to the department of comparative anatomy and physiology at the Medical-Surgical Academy, specially founded for him, as an ordinary professor. The scientist works together with surgeon N.I. Pirogov. In 1851, Baer presented to the Academy of Sciences a large article “About Man”, intended for “Russian Fauna” by Yu.I. Simashko and translated into Russian. K. Beer N.I. Pirogov

Since 1851, Baer began traveling around Russia with practical purposes and, in addition to geographical and ethnographic research, in the field of applied zoology (to Lake Peipsi, the shores of the Baltic Sea, the Volga and the Caspian Sea). In the spring of 1857, the scientist returned to St. Petersburg and became interested in anthropology. He brought into operation and enriched the collection of human skulls in anatomical museum Academy of Sciences. In 1862, he retired and was elected an honorary member of the Academy. On August 18, 1864, a solemn celebration of his anniversary took place at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. After the anniversary, Baer considered his St. Petersburg career irrevocably completed and decided to move to Dorpat. In the early summer of 1867, he moved to a nearby university town.

Beer's laws are most general signs of any large group of animals appear in the embryo earlier than less general characters; after the formation of the most general characteristics, less general ones appear, and so on until the appearance of special characteristics characteristic of a given group; the embryo of any species of animal, as it develops, becomes less and less similar to the embryos of other species and does not pass through the later stages of their development; the embryo of a highly organized species may resemble the embryo of a more primitive species, but is never similar to adult form of this type.

The law of germinal similarity Karl Ernst von Baer showed that the development of all organisms begins with the egg. In this case, the following patterns are observed, common to all vertebrates: at the early stages of development, a striking similarity is found in the structure of the embryos of animals belonging to different classes (in this case, the embryo of the highest form is similar not to the adult animal form, but to its embryo); in the embryos of each large group In animals, general characteristics are formed earlier than special ones; During the process of embryonic development, a divergence of characteristics occurs from more general to special ones.

On November 16 (November 28), 1876, Baer died quietly, as if he had fallen asleep. In November 1886, a monument to Baer was erected in Tartu. Monuments were also installed at the entrance to the Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the Library of the Academy of Sciences (BAN) in St. Petersburg. In 1864, the prize was approved. Bera. K. Bär on the Estonian 2 kroon banknote Karl von Bär is depicted on the two Estonian kroon banknote.

Karl Baer

Baer Karl Maksimovich (Karl Ernst) (1792-1876), naturalist, founder of embryology, one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society, foreign corresponding member (1826), academician (1828-30 and 1834-62; honorary member from 1862) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences . Born in Estland. Worked in Austria and Germany; in 1829-30 and from 1834 - in Russia. Discovered the egg cell in mammals, described the blastula stage; studied chick embryogenesis. He established the similarity of embryos of higher and lower animals, the sequential appearance in embryogenesis of characteristics of type, class, order, etc.; described the development of all major organs of vertebrates. Explored Novaya Zemlya, Caspian Sea. Editor of a series of publications on the geography of Russia. Explained the pattern of erosion of river banks (Ber's law).

BER Karl Maksimovich (Karl Ernst) (1792–1876), Russian naturalist, embryologist. Honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. One of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society. Participant of expeditions to Novaya Zemlya (1837) and the Caspian Sea (1853–56). In 1857, he formulated a provision on the erosion of the right banks of rivers in the North. hemisphere and left - in the Southern, included in the literature under the name of Baer's law. The name of Ber is borne by a cape on Novaya Zemlya and an island in the Taimyr Gulf; The name Baerovskie mounds in the Caspian lowland was included as a term.

Modern illustrated encyclopedia. Geography. Rosman-Press, M., 2006.

Bar Karl

Baer Karl Maksimovich, Russian naturalist, founder of embryology. Graduated from Dorpat (Tartu) University (1814). From 1817 he worked at the University of Königsberg. Since 1826 members -corr., from 1828 ordinary academician, from 1862 honorary member. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Returned to Russia in 1834. Worked in St. Petersburg. AN and at the Medical-Surgical Academy (1841-52). B. discovered the egg in mammals and humans (1827), studied in detail the embryogenesis of the chicken (1829, 1837), and studied the embryonic development of fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. He discovered an important stage of embryonic development - the blastula. He traced the fate of the germ layers and the development of the fetal membranes. He established that: 1) the embryos of higher animals do not resemble the adult forms of lower animals, but are similar only to their embryos; 2) in the process of embryonic development, characters of type, class, order, family, genus and species appear successively (Beer’s laws). Researched and described the development of all fundamentals. vertebrate organs - notochord, brain and spinal cord, eyes, heart, excretory apparatus, lungs, digestive canal, etc. The facts discovered by B. in embryology were proof of the inconsistency of preformationism. B. worked fruitfully in the field of anthropology, creating a system for measuring skulls. Participant of expeditions to Novaya Zemlya (1837) and to the Caspian Sea. m. (1853-56). Their scientific the results were geogr. description of the Caspian Sea, spec. a series of publications on the geography of Russia ["Materials for the knowledge of the Russian Empire and neighboring countries Asia", vol. 1-26, 1839-72 (editor)]. In 1857 he expressed a position on the patterns of erosion of the right banks of rivers in the Northern Hemisphere and the left ones in the Southern Hemisphere (see Baer's law). B. is one of the founders of the Russian Geographical society The name B. was assigned to a cape on Novaya Zemlya and an island in the Taimyr Bay, and as a term was included in the name of the ridges (see Baer hillocks) in the Caspian lowland.

Materials used Big Soviet encyclopedia. In 30 t. Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov. Ed. 3rd. T. 4. Brasos - Wesh. – M., Soviet Encyclopedia. – 1971. – 600 p. from ill., 39 l. ill., 8 l. cards (630,000 copies).

Karl Ernst, or, as he was called in Russia, Karl Maksimovich Baer, ​​was born on February 17, 1792 in the town of Pip, in the Gerven district of the Estonia province. Baer's father, Magnus von Baer, ​​belonged to the Estonian nobility and was married to his cousin Julia von Baer.

Home teachers taught Karl. He studied mathematics, geography, Latin and French and other items. Eleven-year-old Karl has already become familiar with algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

In August 1807, the boy was taken to a noble school at the city cathedral in Revel. In the first half of 1810, Karl completed his school course. He enters the University of Dorpat. In Dorpat, Baer decided to choose a medical career.

In 1814, Baer passed the examination for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He presented and defended his dissertation “On Endemic Diseases in Estonia.”

Baer went abroad, choosing Vienna to continue his medical education.

Professor Burdakh invited Baer to join him as a dissector at the Department of Physiology at the University of Königsberg. As a dissector, Baer opened a course in the comparative anatomy of invertebrate animals, which was of an applied nature, since it consisted mainly of showing and explaining anatomical preparations and drawings.

In 1826, Baer was appointed ordinary professor of anatomy and director of the anatomical institute, relieved of his duties as a prosector.

In 1828, the first volume of the famous “History of Animal Development” appeared in print. Baer, ​​while studying chick embryology, observed that early stage development, when two parallel ridges form on the germinal plate, subsequently closing and forming the brain tube. Baer believed that in the process of development, each new formation arises from a simpler pre-existing basis. Thus, general foundations first appear in the embryo, and from them more and more specialized parts are isolated. This process of gradual movement from the general to the specific is known as differentiation. In 1826, Baer discovered mammalian eggs. He published this discovery in the form of a message addressed to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which elected him as its corresponding member.

Another very important discovery made by Baer was the discovery of the dorsal chord, the basis of the internal skeleton of vertebrates.

At the end of 1834, Baer was already living in St. Petersburg.

From the capital scientist in summer In 1837, he made a trip to Novaya Zemlya, where no naturalist had ever been before.

In 1839, Baer traveled to explore the islands of the Gulf of Finland, and in 1840 he visited the Kola Peninsula. Since 1840, Baer began to publish, together with Helmersen, a special journal at the academy, called “Materials for the Knowledge of the Russian Empire.”

Since 1841, the scientist was appointed ordinary professor of comparative anatomy and physiology at the Medical-Surgical Academy.

In 1851, Baer presented to the Academy of Sciences a large article “On Man,” intended for Semashko’s “Russian Fauna” and translated into Russian.

Since 1851, a series of Baer's travels around Russia began, undertaken for practical purposes and involving Baer, ​​in addition to geographical and ethnographic research, into the field of applied zoology. He led expeditions to Lake Peipsi and the shores of the Baltic Sea, the Volga and the Caspian Sea. His "Caspian Research" in eight parts is very rich in scientific results. In this work by Baer, ​​the eighth part is most interesting - “About universal law formation of river channels." In the spring of 1857, the scientist returned to St. Petersburg. Now Baer devoted himself mainly to anthropology. He put in order and enriched the collection of human skulls in the anatomical museum of the Academy, gradually turning it into an anthropological museum. In 1862, he retired, while was elected an honorary member of the Academy.

On August 18, 1864, a solemn celebration of his anniversary took place at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. After the anniversary, Baer considered his St. Petersburg career completely over and decided to move to Dorpat. In the early summer of 1867, he moved to his native university town.

Site materials used http://100top.ru/encyclopedia/

BER (Baer) Karl Ernst (Karl Maksimovich) (February 29, 1792, Pip, Estonia - November 28, 1876, Dorpat, now Tartu, Estonia) - naturalist and philosopher. He graduated from the medical faculty of the university in Dorpat (1814), taught in Königsberg in 1817-34, and became a professor from 1832. In 1819-25 he developed the foundations of the natural system of animals and expressed thoughts about their evolution (the works were published only in 1959). Baer's "History of Animal Development" (vols. 1-2, 1828 - 36) laid new foundations for embryology. In 1834-67 he worked in St. Petersburg (member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences from 1826), became a biogeographer, anthropologist and herald of ecology. He wrote in German. One of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society (1848). Baer discovered that the traits of a type appear in the embryo before the traits of a class, the latter - before the traits of an order, etc. (Baer's law). He developed the theory of types by J. Cuvier, in which he took into account the commonality of not only the structural plan, but also the development of the embryo. The animal system was built on the concept of the core and periphery (clear and fuzzy forms) of each taxon, based not on characteristics, but on general structure(“the essence of things”, according to K. Linnaeus). Like C. Darwin, he saw in variability the material for evolution, but denied the evolutionary role of competition: field data convinced Baer (as Maya Walt showed) that redundancy of reproduction is necessary for the stability of communities and does not entail the preferential survival of individual variants. Baer considered the main fact of evolution to be the “forward victory of spirit over matter,” coming closer to Lamarck’s interpretation of progress (which Baer avoided mentioning). Formulated the “law of thrift” of nature: once in living matter, the atom remains in its life cycle for millions of years. Baer deeply explored the phenomenon of expediency, proposing to distinguish between good, durable (dauerhaft), aimed at the goal (zielstrebig) and appropriate to the goal, expedient (zweckmassig).

Essays: What a look at wildlife correct. - In the book: Notes of the Russian Entomological Society. St. Petersburg, 1861, issue. 1; Favorite works (Note by Yu. A. Filipchenko). L., 1924; History of animal development, vol. 1-2. L., 1950-53; Unpublished manuscripts. - In the book: Annals of Biology, vol. I. M., 1959; Correspondence of Karl Baer on problems of geography. L., 1970; Entwicklung und Zielstrebigkeit in derNatur. Stuttg., 1983.

Literature: Raikov B. E. Russian evolutionary biologists before Darwin, vol. 2. M.-L., 1951; It's him. Karl Baer. M.-L., 1961; Walt (Remmel) M. Immanent teleology and teleology of universal mutual utility in the works of C. Darwin and K. E. von Baer. - In the book: Scientific notes of Tartu State University. 1974, issue. 324; It's her. Ecological studies of K. Baer and the concept of the struggle for existence. - In the book: St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and Estonia. Tallinn, 1978; Varlamov V.F. Karl Baer - natural scientist. M., 1988; Voeikov V.L. Vitalism and biology: on the threshold of the third millennium. - “Knowledge is power”, 1996, No. 4.

Yu. V. Tchaikovsky

New philosophical encyclopedia. In four volumes. / Institute of Philosophy RAS. Scientific ed. advice: V.S. Stepin, A.A. Guseinov, G.Yu. Semigin. M., Mysl, 2010, vol. I, A - D, p. 351.

Essays:

In Russian lane : History of the development of animals, vol. 1 - 2, M. - L., 1950-53 (there is a library of B.'s works on embryology);

Selected works, Leningrad, 1924;

Autobiography, M., 1950;

Correspondence on problems of geography, vol. 1-, L., 1970-.

Literature:

Vernadsky V.I., In memory of academician. K. M. von Baer, ​​Leningrad, 1927;

Raikov B. E., Karl Baer, ​​his life and works, M. - L., 1961.