Haeckel-File #2: Haeckel the fraud
Haeckel was accused of committing fraud in order to give credibility to his theories. Is there any truth to the allegation?
Constance Sommerey
Currently writing about Ernst Haeckel's (1834-1919) Wirkung and Nachwirkung on the German public understanding of evolution
'The Ghost in the Classroom. Ernst Haeckel's Rhetoric of Evolution and its Reverberations in German Biology Textbooks (1925-1958)' is the title of my PhD project at Maastricht University. I study Haeckel's rhetoric in his Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte (1868) and analyze in how far his stylistic devices were appropriated by textbook authors to make sense of evolution in the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and post-war West Germany.
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Haeckel-File #1: Haeckel the racist
Maybe you have lately visited the Amsterdam library and its exhibition on slavery. If so, you probably came across this drawing from Haeckel. To our twenty-first century eyes, this is quite a...
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Haeckel-Files
Enchanted by Haeckel’s art? So enchanted that you want to know more about this intriguing nineteenth century German scientist?
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Haeckel-File #3: Haeckel the Nazi
Would evolution theory inescapably have to lead to fascist eugenics?
Haeckel has not only been badmouthed for things he actually did or believed during his life (see the two previous Haeckel-Files on racism and fraud), he has also been partially blamed for what...
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Image: Amy Claire Elizabeth Galbraith
Constance answers a question.
Constance Sommerey answers a question about Haeckel.
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Image: Amy Claire Elizabeth Galbraith
Constance and Koen
Constance Sommery and Koen Beumer in front of a beautiful Haeckel poster.
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Image: Willem Velthoven
Constance Sommerey admiring Ernst Haeckel's…
She was visiting Mediamatic to talk about our co-operation for our Haeckel exhibition. Constance is writing a PhD thesis about the way Haeckel's evolution ideas were present in German biology...