Fields zoologyparasitology | Name Rudolf Leuckart | |
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Alma mater University of Gottingen Died February 6, 1898, Leipzig, Germany Education University of Gottingen, Leipzig University Notable students Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Claus, Otto Butschli Similar People Carl Friedrich Wilhelm, Otto Butschli, Emil Goeldi, Ernst Haeckel | ||
Karl Georg Friedrich Rudolf Leuckart (7 October 1822 – 22 February 1898) was a German zoologist born in Helmstedt. He was a nephew to naturalist Friedrich Sigismund Leuckart (1794-1843).
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Academic career
He earned his degree from the University of Göttingen, where he was a student of Rudolf Wagner (1805-1864). Afterwards he participated on a scientific expedition to the North Sea for the study marine invertebrates. Later he became a professor of zoology at the University of Giessen (1850) and the University of Leipzig (1869).
Parasitological research
Leuckart is remembered for his work in parasitology, particularly research regarding tapeworm and trichinosis. He was the first to prove that Taenia saginata occurs only in cattle (and humans), and Taenia solium occurs only in swine (and humans). His study of Trichina helped support Rudolf Virchow's campaign to create meat inspection laws in Germany. With Virchow and Friedrich Albert von Zenker (1825-1898), he was the first to document the life cycle of the parasite Trichinella spiralis in swine and humans. He also did important studies of the sheep liver fluke.
Today the "Rudolf-Leuckart-Medaille" is an annual award given for research in parasitology by the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Parasitologie (German Society of Parasitology).
Other contributions
Leuckart is credited with splitting George Cuvier's Radiata into two phyla: Coelenterata and Echinodermata. As a scientist, his provided excellent descriptions of morphologic details giving credence to the idea that zoological evolution can be learned through its anatomical changes. Between 1877 and 1892, he developed a series of zoological wall charts that have been used worldwide as teaching aids.
In the field of entomology, he conducted investigations into the micropyle and fertilization of insect eggs, the reproduction and development involving members of Pupipara, parthenogenesis among insects, and studies on the anatomy and life history of the honeybee.
A quote attributed to Rudolf Leuckart:
It is not possible for man, as a thinking being, to close his mind to the knowledge that he is ruled by the same power as is the animal world. Like the despised worm he lives in dependence upon external commands, and like the worm he perishes, even when he has shaken the world through the power of his ideas
A species of Australian lizard, Anomalopus leuckarti, is named in his honor.