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Correspondence

Nature 424, 875 (21 August 2003) | doi:10.1038/424875b

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Haeckel's literary hopes dashed by materialism?

Uwe Hossfeld1, Rosemarie Nöthlich1 & Lennart Olsson2

  1. Institut für Geschichte der Medizin, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Ernst-Haeckel-Haus, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Berggasse 7, D-07745 Jena, Germany
  2. Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie mit Phyletischem Museum, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Erbertstr. 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany

The renewed debate (see, for example, ref. 1) about whether the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel 'doctored' his embryo drawings to fit his biogenetic law — ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny — has led to intensified research into other aspects of Haeckel's life and work.