Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876): the Man and His Legacy
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876): the man and his legacy. An introduction DAVID M. WILLIAMS & ROBERT HUXLEY Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Crornwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK “Der Welten Klienes auch ist wunderbar und gross, Und aus dem Kleinen bauen sich die Welten” (From the inscription on Ehrenberg’s gravestone, Zolffel and Hausmann, 1990: 289; Corliss, 1996: 46). ‘ ‘Scienceprogress rapidly, and soon many of them will be forgotten or have a mere historical interest; but Ehrenberg’s name will always be connected with one of the most important scientijic discoveries of the nineteenth century” (Anonymous, 1876: 205). Introduction ...................................... 2 Acknowledgements ................................. 1 1 References. ..................................... 1 I Keywords: diatoms - biogeography - systematics Abstract Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1 795-1 876) is probably one of the most important of the early micropalaeontologists. During his early career Ehrenberg was a much respected scientist. Many of his contemporaries, like Charles Darwin, T.H. Huxley, Benjamin Silliman, J.D. Dana and J.W. Bailey, regarded him as the foremost expert in the identification of ‘Infusoria’. The purpose of holding a meeting centred around the life and works of Ehrenberg was threefold. First, 1995 was the bicentenary of his birth and we were unaware of any major celebration of his life. Second, Ehrenberg has received scant attention in the history of science. Third, and perhaps most importantly, Ehrenberg left a large legacy to future science in the form of a massive collection of specimens. 2 THE MAN & HIS LEGACY: AN INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876) is probably one of the most important of the early micropalaeontologists, establishing the field of ‘protozoology’ (Jahn, 1995a; Corliss, 1996) by publishing the first review of all known ‘Infusoria’ (Ehrenberg, 1838: Figure 1).
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