Karl Gegenbaur

Karl Gegenbaur (born August 21, 1826, Würzburg, Bavaria [Germany]—died June 14, 1903, Heidelberg, Germany) was a German anatomist who demonstrated that the field of comparative anatomy offers important evidence in support of evolutionary theory. A professor of anatomy at the universities of Jena (1855–73) and Heidelberg (1873–1903), Gegenbaur was a strong supporter of Charles Darwin’s theory of organic evolution. His Grundzüge der vergleichenden Anatomie (1859; Elements of Comparative Anatomy) became the standard textbook of evolutionary...