Ernst Haeckel

The anatomists Köliker and Müller and the pathologist Virchow all taught him; he also worked briefly as Virchow’s assistant. Müller’s thought informed Haeckel’s own ideas about ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny, now shown to be an oversimplification. He was strongly influenced by Darwin and an enthusiastic promoter of his ideas in Germany; as well as Darwin (whose wife had to leave the room because of the loudness of Haeckel’s voice), he met Lyell and T. H. Huxley on a visit to England. Eugène Dubois, discoverer of Java Man, was inspired to do so by a lecture of Haeckel’s, but not taught by him.