Baer Karl Ernst von - Biography. Karl Ernst von Baer biography Biography of M Baer

Karl Maksimovich Baer(Karl Ernst) (1792-1876) - naturalist, founder of embryology, one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society, foreign corresponding member (1826), academician (1828-30 and 1834-62; honorary member since 1862) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Born in Estland. Worked in Austria and Germany; in 1829-30 and from 1834 - in Russia. Discovered the egg cell in mammals, described the blastula stage; studied chick embryogenesis.

Karl Baer established the similarity of embryos of higher and lower animals, the sequential appearance in embryogenesis of characters of type, class, order, etc.; described the development of all major organs of vertebrates. Explored Novaya Zemlya and the Caspian Sea. K. Baer - editor of a series of publications on Russian geography . Explained the pattern of erosion of river banks (Beer's law: rivers flowing in the direction of the meridian, in the Northern Hemisphere, wash away the right bank, in the Southern Hemisphere, the left bank. Explained by the influence of the daily rotation of the Earth on the movement of water particles in the river.).

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Karl Ernst von Baer Biology teacher Kuzyaeva A.M. Nizhny Novgorod

Karl Ernst von Baer (February 17, 1792 - November 28, 1876) Karl Ernst von Baer, or, as he was called in Russia, Karl Maksimovich Baer, one of the founders of embryology and comparative anatomy, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, president of the Russian Entomological Society, one of the founders Russian Geographical Society. Ichthyologist, geographer, anthropologist and ethnographer.

Baer was born on February 28, 1792 on his father’s estate Pin, Estonian province (Tartu, Estonia); Baer's father, Magnus von Baer, belonged to the Estonian nobility. Home teachers taught Karl. In August 1807, the boy entered a noble school in Revel. in 1810 - 1814 he studied medicine at the University of Dorpat and in 1812 - 1813 he had the opportunity to study it practically in a large military hospital in Riga. In 1814, Baer passed the examination for the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

To improve his science, Karl Baer went to Germany, where, under the leadership of Dellinger, he studied comparative anatomy in Würzburg; met Nees von Esenbeck, who had a great influence on his mental direction. Since 1817, Baer has been Burdach's prosector in Königsberg. In 1819 he was appointed extraordinary, and soon after that ordinary professor of zoology. In 1826 he was appointed ordinary professor of anatomy and director of the anatomical institute. In the same year, Baer discovered the mammalian egg. In 1828, the first volume of the famous “History of Animal Development” appeared in print. In 1829 he was invited as an academician and professor of zoology at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Johann Döllinger Nes von Esenbeck

In the summer of 1837 he made a trip to Novaya Zemlya, where no naturalist had ever been before. In 1839, Baer traveled to explore the islands of the Gulf of Finland. In 1840 he visited the Kola Peninsula. Since 1840, Baer began to publish, together with Helmersen, a special journal at the academy, called “Materials for the Knowledge of the Russian Empire.”

Since 1841, Baer was appointed to the department of comparative anatomy and physiology at the Medical-Surgical Academy, specially founded for him, as an ordinary professor. The scientist works together with surgeon N.I. Pirogov. In 1851, Baer presented to the Academy of Sciences a large article “About Man”, intended for “Russian Fauna” by Yu.I. Simashko and translated into Russian. K. Beer N.I. Pirogov

Since 1851, Baer began traveling around Russia with practical purposes and, in addition to geographical and ethnographic research, in the field of applied zoology (to Lake Peipsi, the shores of the Baltic Sea, the Volga and the Caspian Sea). In the spring of 1857, the scientist returned to St. Petersburg and became interested in anthropology. He brought into operation and enriched the collection of human skulls in the anatomical museum of the Academy of Sciences. In 1862, he retired and was elected an honorary member of the Academy. On August 18, 1864, a solemn celebration of his anniversary took place at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. After the anniversary, Baer considered his St. Petersburg career irrevocably completed and decided to move to Dorpat. In the early summer of 1867, he moved to a nearby university town.

Baer's Laws The most general characteristics of any large group of animals appear in the embryo earlier than less general characters; after the formation of the most general characteristics, less general ones appear, and so on until the appearance of special characteristics characteristic of a given group; the embryo of any species of animal, as it develops, becomes less and less similar to the embryos of other species and does not pass through the later stages of their development; the embryo of a highly organized species may resemble the embryo of a more primitive species, but is never similar to the adult form of this species.

The law of germinal similarity Karl Ernst von Baer showed that the development of all organisms begins with the egg. In this case, the following patterns are observed, common to all vertebrates: at the early stages of development, a striking similarity is found in the structure of the embryos of animals belonging to different classes (in this case, the embryo of the highest form is similar not to the adult animal form, but to its embryo); in the embryos of each large group of animals, general characteristics are formed earlier than special ones; During the process of embryonic development, a divergence of characteristics occurs from more general to special ones.

On November 16 (November 28), 1876, Baer died quietly, as if he had fallen asleep. In November 1886, a monument to Baer was erected in Tartu. Monuments were also installed at the entrance to the Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the Library of the Academy of Sciences (BAN) in St. Petersburg. In 1864, the prize was approved. Bera. K. Bär on the Estonian 2 kroon banknote Karl von Bär is depicted on the two Estonian kroon banknote.

Natural scientist, physician, zoologist, anthropologist, geographer, ethnographer. Traveler.

Born into a family of Baltic Germans.

One of the founders of scientific embryology and comparative anatomy.

Karl Baer criticized the theory of Charles Darwin, since he believed that evolution does not occur through the selection of the smallest but beneficial changes to the body, but occurs in large leaps (as was later confirmed by S.I. Korzhinsky and Hugo de Vries).

“After all, “if different types of organisms were constantly changing and these changes were taking place in different directions, then we would have to observe a chaos of transitional forms, and not those permanent formations that we call species.” In fact, we see that a small deviation in form, which accidentally appears in a representative of a species, is leveled out in subsequent generations, and thus the species maintains its, admittedly relative, constancy.”

Novikov M.M., Giants of Russian natural science, “Posev”, 1960, p. 124.

"Founder of scientific embryology K. Baer Based on numerous observations of the development of embryos of chickens, reptiles, mammals and humans, he formulated a general rule of embryonic development. It is as follows:

Development goes from homogeneous and general to heterogeneous and particular;

Features common to all representatives of any group of animals (traits of a type, class) appear during the development of the embryo earlier than more specialized features that distinguish members of different subgroups of a large group from each other (characters of the genus and species);

The morphological separation of organs in the embryo is the formation of the particular from the general. According to the biogenetic law or the law of recapitulation, in ontogenesis there is an abbreviated and “straightened” repetition of the previous history of the development of the animal world.

Currently, this law is accepted by the majority of biologists, taking into account certain clarifications and restrictions made A.N. Severtsov. Accepting the general position that ontogenesis is a function of phylogeny, this scientist introduced into it the essential clarification that in ontogenesis, those characters that develop primarily in the anabolic mode, that is, by superimposing the final stages of development, are recapitulated. At present, there is no doubt that the general plan for the development of the structure and functions of the brain in ontogenesis and in phylogenesis is, in principle, the same.”

Chuprikova N.I., Mental development. The principle of differentiation, St. Petersburg, “Peter”, 2007, p. 368.

Having studied the Caspian Sea, it was Karl Baer introduced Caspian herring into widespread consumption. In 1857, the scientist developed a law on the erosion of the right banks of rivers in the Northern Hemisphere, and the left ones in the Southern Hemisphere.

Karl Maksimovich Baer (Karl Ernst) (1792-1876) - naturalist, founder of embryology, one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society, foreign corresponding member (1826), academician (1828-30 and 1834-62; honorary member from 1862) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences . Born in Estland. Worked in Austria and Germany; in 1829-30 and from 1834 - in Russia. Discovered the egg cell in mammals, described the blastula stage; studied chick embryogenesis.

Alcohol claims more lives than the worst epidemic.

Bär Karl Ernst von

Karl Baer established the similarity of embryos of higher and lower animals, the sequential appearance in embryogenesis of characters of type, class, order, etc.; described the development of all major organs of vertebrates. Explored Novaya Zemlya and the Caspian Sea. K. Baer is the editor of a series of publications on Russian geography. Explained the pattern of erosion of river banks (Beer's law: rivers flowing in the direction of the meridian, in the Northern Hemisphere, wash away the right bank, in the Southern Hemisphere, the left bank. Explained by the influence of the daily rotation of the Earth on the movement of water particles in the river.).

Karl Ernst, or, as he was called in Russia, Karl Maksimovich Baer, was born on February 17, 1792 in the town of Pip, in the Gerven district of the Estonian province. Baer's father, Magnus von Baer, belonged to the Estonian nobility and was married to his cousin Julia von Baer.

Little Karl early began to be interested in various objects of nature and often brought home various fossils, snails and the like. As a seven-year-old boy, Karl Baer not only could not read, but also did not know a single letter. Subsequently, he was very pleased that “he was not one of those phenomenal children who, because of the ambition of their parents, are deprived of a bright childhood.”

Science is eternal in its source, not limited in its activity by either time or space, immeasurable in its appearance, infinite in its task...

Bär Karl Ernst von

Then home teachers taught Karl. He studied mathematics, geography, Latin and French and other subjects. Eleven-year-old Karl has already become familiar with algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

In August 1807, Karl was taken to the noble school at the city cathedral in Revel. After questioning, which took the form of an exam, the school director assigned him to the senior class (prima), ordering him to attend only Greek lessons in the junior classes, in which Baer was not at all prepared.

In the first half of 1810, Karl completed his school course. He enters the University of Dorpat. In Dorpat, Baer decided to choose a medical career, although, by his own admission, he himself did not know well why he was making this choice.

When Napoleon's invasion of Russia followed in 1812 and MacDonald's army threatened Riga, many of the Dorpat students, including Baer, went, like true patriots, to the theater of war in Riga, where typhus was raging in the Russian garrison and in the city population. Karl also fell ill with typhus, but survived the disease safely.

I have always been filled with the desire not to say anything that I could not prove.

Bär Karl Ernst von

In 1814, Karl Baer passed the examination for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He presented and defended his dissertation “On endemic diseases in Estonia.” But still realizing the inadequacy of the knowledge he had acquired, he asked his father to send him abroad to complete his medical education. His father gave him a small amount, on which, according to Baer's calculations, he could live for a year and a half, and his older brother lent him the same amount.

K. Beer went abroad, choosing Vienna to continue his medical education, where such famous people as Hildebrand, Rust, Beer and others taught. In the fall of 1815, Baer arrived in Würzburg to visit another famous scientist, Döllinger, to whom he presented, instead of a letter of recommendation, a bag of mosses, explaining his desire to study comparative anatomy. The very next day, Karl Baer, under the guidance of an old scientist, began dissecting a leech from a pharmacy. In this way, he independently studied the structure of various animals. Throughout his life, Baer remained deeply grateful to Dellinger, who spared neither time nor labor for his education.

Meanwhile, Karl Baer's funds were coming to an end, so he was delighted with the offer of Professor Burdach to join him as a dissector at the Department of Physiology at the University of Königsberg. As a dissector, Baer immediately opened a course in the comparative anatomy of invertebrate animals, which was of an applied nature, since it consisted mainly of showing and explaining anatomical preparations and drawings.

Since then, Karl Baer's teaching and scientific activities have entered into their permanent rut. He supervised practical classes for students in the anatomical theater, taught courses in human anatomy and anthropology, and found time to prepare and publish special independent works.

In 1819, Karl Baer managed to get a promotion: he was appointed extraordinary professor of zoology with instructions to set up a zoological museum at the university. In general, this year was a happy one in Baer’s life: he married one of the residents of Koenigsberg, Augusta von Medem.

Gradually, in Konigsberg, Baer became one of the prominent and beloved members of intelligent society - not only among professors, but also in many families that were not directly related to the university. Having an excellent command of the German literary language, Karl Baer sometimes wrote German poetry, which was quite good and smooth. “I must repent,” says Baer in his autobiography, “that one day it seriously occurred to me that there might not be a poet in me. But my attempts revealed to me that Apollo was not sitting at my cradle. If I did not write humorous poetry, then the ridiculous element still involuntarily crept in in the form of empty pathos or tearing elegy.”

In 1826, Baer was appointed ordinary professor of anatomy and director of the anatomical institute, relieved of his duties as a prosector. It was a time of growth in the creative scientific activity of the scientist. In addition to the lectures on zoology and anatomy that he gave at the university, he wrote a number of special works on the anatomy of animals, and made many reports in scientific societies on natural history and anthropology. The author of the theory of types, based on comparative anatomical data, by right of priority, is Georges Cuvier, who published his theory in 1812. Baer independently came to similar conclusions, but published his work only in 1826. However, the theory of types would have much less significance if it were based solely on anatomy and was not supported by data from the history of the development of organisms. The latter was done by Baer, and this gives him the right to be considered, along with Cuvier, the founder of the theory of types.

But Baer's greatest success came from embryological research. In 1828, the first volume of his famous “History of Animal Development” appeared in print. Baer, studying the embryology of the chicken, observed that early stage of development when two parallel ridges are formed on the germ plate, which subsequently join and form the brain tube. The scientist was struck by the idea that “the type guides development, the embryo develops, following the basic plan according to which the body of organisms of a given class is structured.” He turned to other vertebrate animals and in their development he found brilliant confirmation of his thought.

The enormous significance of the “History of Animal Development” published by Baer lies not only in the clear clarification of the basic embryological processes, but mainly in the brilliant conclusions presented at the end of the first volume of this work under the general title “Scholia and Corollaries”. The famous zoologist Balfour said that all research on vertebrate embryology that came out after Karl Baer can be considered as additions and amendments to his work, but cannot provide anything as new and important as the results obtained by Baer.

Asking himself a question about the essence of development, Karl Baer answered it: all development consists in the transformation of something previously existing. “This position is so simple and artless,” says another scientist, “that it seems almost meaningless. And yet it is of great importance." The fact is that in the process of development, each new formation arises from a simpler pre-existing basis. Thus, an important law of development is revealed - in the embryo it appears approximately parallel to the meridian, from the equator to the pole, then due to the rotation of the globe from west to east, water, bringing with it a greater speed of rotation than in northern latitudes, will press with particular force on the eastern , that is, the right bank, which will therefore be steeper and higher than the left.

In the spring of 1857, Karl Baer returned to St. Petersburg. He felt too old for long and tedious wanderings. Now Baer devoted himself primarily to anthropology. He tidied up and enriched the collection of human skulls in the Academy's anatomical museum, gradually turning it into an anthropological museum. In 1858, he traveled to Germany in the summer, took part in a congress of naturalists and doctors in Karlsruhe and was engaged in craniological research at the Basel Museum.

In addition to anthropology, Karl Baer, however, did not cease to be interested in other branches of natural science, trying to promote their development and dissemination in Russia. Thus, he took an active part in the creation and organization of the Russian Entomological Society and became its first president. Although Baer enjoyed general respect and had no shortage of friendly company, he did not particularly like life in St. Petersburg. Therefore, he looked for an opportunity to leave St. Petersburg and go somewhere to live out the rest of his life in peace, devoting himself exclusively to his scientific inclinations, without any official duties. In 1862, he retired and was elected an honorary member of the Academy.

On August 18, 1864, a solemn celebration of his anniversary took place at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The Emperor granted the hero of the day a lifelong annual pension of 3 thousand rubles, and the Baer Prize was established at the Academy of Sciences for outstanding research in the natural sciences.

After the anniversary, Karl Baer considered his St. Petersburg career to be completely over and decided to move to Dorpat, since if he went abroad, he would be too far away from his children. By this time, Baer's family had shrunk greatly: his only daughter Maria married Dr. von Lingen in 1850, and of his six sons only three survived; Baer's wife died in the spring of 1864. In the early summer of 1867, he moved to his native university town.

The elderly scientist continued to be interested in science here, in retirement. He prepared his unpublished works for publication and, whenever possible, followed the progress of knowledge. His mind was still clear and active, but his physical strength began to fail him more and more. On November 16, 1876, Karl Baer died quietly. (Samin D.K. 100 great scientists. - M.: Veche, 2000)

More about Karl Baer:

Baer (Karl Maksimovich, Karl Ernest) is one of the most versatile and outstanding naturalists of modern times, especially the famous embryologist. He was born on February 28, 1792 in his father’s estate Pin, Estonian province; attended the Revel gymnasium; in 1810 - 1814 he studied medicine at the University of Dorpat and in 1812 - 13 he had the opportunity to study it practically in a large military hospital in Riga.

To further improve his science, Karl Baer went to Germany, where, under the leadership of Dellinger, he studied comparative anatomy in Würzburg; at this time he met Nees von Esenbeck and this acquaintance had a great influence on his mental direction. Since 1817, Baer has been Burdach's prosector in Konigsberg, in 1819 he was appointed extraordinary, and soon after that ordinary professor of zoology; in 1826 he took over the leadership of the anatomical institute instead of Burdakh, and in 1829 he was invited as an academician to the St. Petersburg Academician. sciences; but already in 1830, for family reasons, he resigned his title of academician and returned to Konigsberg.

Invited again to the Academy, Karl Baer moved again to St. Petersburg a few years later and since then remained here and was one of the most active members of the Academy of Sciences. He undertook several trips at the expense of the government to explore Russia, and published their results partly in Memoires and partly in the Bulletin of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1851 - 56, on behalf of the government, he began researching fisheries on Lake Peypuse, on the Russian shores of the Baltic Sea and on the Caspian Sea, and presented the results in the second volume of the essay “Research on the State of Fisheries in Russia” (St. Petersburg, 1860); in 1862 he left the Academy and was elected an honorary member of it.

Karl Baer died in Dorpat on November 28, 1876. His works are distinguished by their philosophical depth and, in their clear and precise presentation, are as attractive as they are generally understandable. He dealt primarily with embryology, and science owes him the most important data on the history of the development of organic bodies. Beginning with “Epistola de ovi mammalium et hominis genesi” (Leipzig, 1827), Baer continued his research on this subject. “Entwickelungsgeschichte der Thiere” (2 volumes, Königsberg, 1828 - 37) - a work that constitutes an era in embryology; “Untersuchungen Uber die Entwickelung der Fische” (Leipz., 1835).

Later he published the essay “Ueberdoppelleibige Missgeburten” (St. Petersburg, 1845). Then, in addition to a number of articles on anthropology and especially craniology, Karl Baer also published “Selbstbiographie” (St. Petersburg, 1866) and “Reden, gehalten in wissenschaftlichen Versammlungen und kleine Aufsatze vermischten Inhalts” (3 volumes, 1864 - 75). The “Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Russischen Reichs” (volumes 1 - 26, St. Petersburg, 1839 - 68) published by him and Helmersen contains many of Baer’s works, especially reports on scientific trips to explore Russia (vol. 9, St. Petersburg, 1845 - 55).

After the death of Karl Baer, Stida published his work “Ueber die homerischen Localitaten in der Odyssee” (Braunschweig, 1877); You can also learn about Baer from Steed “K. E. von Baer. Eine biographische Skizze" (Brunschweig, 1877).

In addition to those mentioned, Karl Baer left many works, of which the most important are the following: “Ueber Medusa aurea” (Meckel's Archiv, 1823. Bd. VIII); “Ueber die Kiemen und Kiemengefasse in den Embryonen der Wirbelthiere” (ibid., 1827); "Untersuchungen uber die Gefassverbindung zwischen Mutter und Frucht" (Leuzzig, 1828); "Noch ein Wort uber das Blasen der Cetaceen" (Isis, 1828); "Ueber die Wanderungeu der Zugvoegel" (Preuss. Prov. Blatt, 1834 , Bd. IX and XII); “Beitrag zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Schildkroeten” (Muller's Arch. 1834); "Ueber das Grefassystem des Braunfisches" (Nova Act. Acad. C. L. naturae curios. 1834. Bd. XVII); “Bemerkungen ueber die Entwickelungesgeschichte der Muschein” (Froriep’s Notiz., Bd. XIII); “Entwickelungsgeschichte der ungeschwanten Batrachier” (Bull. sc. I. No. 1); “Delphini phocaena anatome Sectio prima” (ibid., I No. 4. 1836); "Expedition nach Lappland und Nowaja Semlja" (ibid. III vol.); "Ueber das Skelet der Navaga" (ibid., III vol. 1838); "Anatomische und Zoologische Untersuchungen ueber das Wallross." ( Mem. VI Ser. T. IV 1838); “Ueber das Aussterben der Thierarten” (Bull. de l "Acad. de S. Petersb. T. VI); “Ueber ein neues Projekt Austern-Banke an der Russischen Ostsee-Kuste anzulegen” (ibid., vol. IV); “Ein Wort uber einen blinden Fisch” (ibid., vol. IV); “Man in Natural History” (“Russian Fauna” by Yul. Simashko, St. Petersburg, 1851); “On Caspian fishing” (Journal of the Min. State. Named after 1853. Part I); “Why is it that our rivers flowing from north to south have a high right bank and a low bank on the left?” (“Sea Collection” 1858 book 5,); "Crania selecta" (Mem. Ac. S. Petersb. VI Ser. T X. 1858); “Do whales really throw up water columns?” (“Naturalist”, 1864); “Man’s Place in Nature” (ibid., 1865).

Karl Ernst von Baer - quotes

Alcohol claims more lives than the worst epidemic.

Science is eternal in its source, not limited in its activity by either time or space, immeasurable in its appearance, infinite in its task...

I have always been filled with the desire not to say anything that I could not prove.

Who is Karl Maksimovich Baer, what is his contribution to biology, what is this scientist known for?

Baer Karl Maksimovich born Karl Ernst von Baer. Years of life 1792-1876. The future naturalist was born into a family of Baltic Germans in the Estonian province, now Estonia.

He went down in history as the founder of embryology. He was engaged in a comparative analysis of the patterns of intrauterine development of embryos belonging to different biological species. In his scientific works, he formulated the principles of embryo formation, which were later named after him “the so-called Beer’s laws.”

Karl Baer - short biography

Karl's parents belonged to a famous noble family. The family was considered wealthy at that time. Home teachers worked with the future scientist from childhood, teaching him mathematics, geography and foreign languages. It is obvious that even in early childhood, Karl was an enthusiastic student and learned the basics of many scientific disciplines with genuine interest, which distinguished him favorably from his peers.

Since 1810, Karl studied medicine in Dorpat and Wurzburg. He was diligent in his studies and mastered medical disciplines with honors. Just 4 years after graduating from medical school, the scientist gets a job as a prosector (pathologist) at the University of Königsberg, where the young specialist is interested in comparative anatomy.

The range of interests of Karl Baer is not limited to the study of human anatomy, although this is precisely his responsibility as an employee of the anatomical theater. The scientist is fascinated by the zoology of invertebrates and embryology, which at that time had not yet been isolated as an independent biological discipline.

In 1826, Karl Baer headed the department of anatomy at the University of Königsberg. In the same year he received an academic degree as a member of the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg, and just a year later he became a professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

In 1834, Baer moved to Russia, after which the scientist’s lifestyle changed significantly. He is fascinated by the gigantic, almost impossible to explore, expanses of the vast country, the nature of which in those days was practically unexplored.

At this time, Baer became a geographer and traveler, an explorer of the richest living world in Russia. So in 1837, the scientist led a scientific expedition to Novaya Zemlya. During this natural science activity, a group of scientists discovered about 90 new hitherto unknown plants and about 70 species of invertebrate animals.

Many scientific expeditions were carried out under his leadership. The scientist studied the flora and fauna of the Gulf of Finland, the Kola Peninsula, Transcaucasia, the Volga region, the Black Sea, the Azov Sea, the Caspian Sea and so on.

The results of this expedition were not only scientific, but also practical. Thanks to his discoveries, the foundations were laid for the formation of fishing as a field of applied human activity.

Baer finished his practical work in 1864, officially declaring this within the walls of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In the same year, the scientist moved to his historical homeland in Dorpat, where 12 years later he died in his sleep. In the last years of his life, he completely retired from scientific activities and devoted all his time to his friends and relatives.

Baer's contribution to the development of science

Baer was the first to discover the egg in humans. While studying the developmental features of embryos belonging to different species of multicellular animals, he saw certain similarities that are present in the early stages of development and disappear over time.

According to Baer's teaching, the embryo first develops traits characteristic of the type, then the class, then the order, genus and, finally, the species. At the early stages of their development, embryos belonging to different species and even orders have a lot of similar features.

In addition, Baer determined the main stages of development of the embryo of multicellular animals: the timing and features of the formation and growth of the neural tube, as well as the spinal column, in addition, he studied the structural features of other vital organs.

Baer was one of the first to suggest that all human racial differences are formed solely under the influence of environmental characteristics. To study the features of the development of ethno-territorial groups of humans, the scientist was the first to use methods of craniology (the study of the structural features of the skull).

Karl Baer has always been a supporter of human species unity and criticized any ideas and attempts to prove the superiority of one race over another. For his tough position on species unity, the scientist’s views were more than once criticized by other more reactionary colleagues.

Having said what Baer contributed to biology, one cannot fail to note his contribution as a scientist to geography. The so-called Baer's law states that rivers flowing along the meridian will always have a steeper western bank due to constant erosion by the current. Karl Baer is one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society.

A cape on Novaya Zemlya is named after this great naturalist, in addition, a whole ridge of hills in the Caspian lowland, as well as one of the islands in the Taimyr Gulf.

Conclusion

Karl Maksimovich Baer, whose biography cannot tell a person everything about this, approached nature as a single whole. He studied the invisible forces that force every organism to develop, without violating the principles of harmony, unity and integrity of the universe.

Born into a family of Baltic Germans in the estate of Pip (German: Piep; in Estonian: Piibe (Estonian: Piibe)) on the territory of the parish of Marien-Magdalenen (German: St. Marien-Magdalenen; in the Estonian version - parish of Koeru (Estonian: Koeru kihelkond) ) Weisenstein district of the Estonian province (now in the territory of the Rakke volost of the Lääne-Viru County of Estonia).
Baer's father, Magnus von Baer, belonged to the Estonian nobility and was married to his cousin Julia von Baer. Home teachers taught Karl. He studied mathematics, geography, Latin and French and other subjects. Eleven-year-old Karl has already become familiar with algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

In August 1807, the boy was taken to a noble school at the city cathedral in Reval (now Tallinn). In the first half of 1810, Karl completed his school course. He enters the University of Dorpat. In Dorpat (now Tartu), Baer decided to choose a medical career.

In 1814, Baer passed the examination for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He presented and defended his dissertation “On endemic diseases in Estonia” (Dissertatio inaugurales medica de morbis inter esthonos endemicis. Auctor Carolus Ernestus Baer. Dorpat, litteris Schummanni. 1814. 88 pp.). Baer went abroad, choosing Vienna to continue his medical education. Professor Burdach invited Baer to join him as a dissector at the Department of Physiology at the University of Königsberg. As a dissector, Baer opened a course in the comparative anatomy of invertebrate animals, which was of an applied nature, since it consisted mainly of showing and explaining anatomical preparations and drawings.

In 1826, Baer was appointed ordinary professor of anatomy and director of the anatomical institute, freed from his duties as a prosector.

In 1828, the first volume of the famous “History of Animal Development” appeared in print. Baer, studying the embryology of the chicken, observed that early stage of development when two parallel ridges are formed on the germ plate, which subsequently interlock and form the brain tube. Baer believed that in the process of development, each new formation arises from a simpler pre-existing basis. Thus, general foundations first appear in the embryo, and from them more and more specialized parts are isolated. This process of gradual movement from the general to the specific is known as differentiation. In 1826, Baer discovered the mammalian egg. He published this discovery in the form of a message addressed to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which elected him as its corresponding member.

Another very important discovery made by Baer was the discovery of the dorsal chord (notochord), the basis of the internal skeleton of vertebrates.

At the end of 1834, Baer was already living in St. Petersburg. From the capital, in the summer of 1837, the scientist traveled to Novaya Zemlya, where no naturalist had ever been before.

In 1839, Baer traveled to explore the islands of the Gulf of Finland, and in 1840 he visited the Kola Peninsula. Since 1840, Baer began to publish, together with Helmersen, a special journal at the academy, called “Materials for the Knowledge of the Russian Empire.”

Since 1841, the scientist was appointed ordinary professor of comparative anatomy and physiology at the Medical-Surgical Academy.

In 1851, Baer presented to the Academy of Sciences a large article “On Man,” intended for Semashko’s “Russian Fauna” and translated into Russian.

Since 1851, a series of Baer's travels around Russia began, undertaken for practical purposes and involving Baer, in addition to geographical and ethnographic research, in the field of applied zoology. He led expeditions to Lake Peipus and the shores of the Baltic Sea, to the Volga and the Caspian Sea. His “Caspian Research” in eight parts is very rich in scientific results. In this work by Baer, the eighth part is most interesting - “On the universal law of the formation of river channels” (see Baer's Law). In the spring of 1857, the scientist returned to St. Petersburg. Now Baer devoted himself primarily to anthropology. He put in order and enriched the collection of human skulls in the anatomical museum of the Academy, gradually turning it into an anthropological museum.

In 1862, he retired and was elected an honorary member of the Academy.

On August 18, 1864, a solemn celebration of his anniversary took place at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. After the anniversary, Baer considered his St. Petersburg career completely over and decided to move to Dorpat. In the early summer of 1867, he moved to his native university town.

Baer's laws

Karl Baer, in his works on embryology, formulated patterns that were later called “Baer’s Laws”:

the most general characteristics of any large group of animals appear in the embryo earlier than the less general characters;
after the formation of the most general characteristics, less general ones appear, and so on until the appearance of special characteristics characteristic of a given group;
the embryo of any species of animal, as it develops, becomes less and less similar to the embryos of other species and does not pass through the later stages of their development;
the embryo of a highly organized species may resemble the embryo of a more primitive species, but is never similar to the adult form of this species.

Perpetuating the memory of K. Baer

In November 1886, a monument to Baer by sculptor A. M. Opekushin was erected in Tartu. Monuments to Baer (variants of the Opekushin monument) were also installed at the entrance to the Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the Library of the Academy of Sciences (BAN) in St. Petersburg.

Karl von Baer is depicted on the two Estonian kroon banknote.

The island of Ber in the Taimyr Bay of the Kara Sea and the duck (Aythya baeri) from the duck family are named in honor of Baer.

Major works

"Dissertatio inaugurales medica de morbis inter esthonos endemicis." 1814.
“Message on the development of the egg of mammals and humans” (“Epistola de ovi mammalium et hominis genesi”, “?ber die Bildung des Eies der Saugetiere und des Menshen. Mit einer biographish-geschichtlichen Einf?hrung in deutsch.” Leipzig, Voss, 1827 1827);
“History of Animal Development” (“?ber die Entwickelungsgeschichte der Thiere”, 1828; 1837);
Expedition to Novaya Zemlya and Lapland. Physical sketch of the countries visited. 1837

Article 1: The shores of the White Sea and Lapland. - 18 s. Article 2: Geognostic structure of Novaya Zemlya. – 11 s.

“Research on the Development of Fishes” (“Untersuchungen Entwickelung der Fische”, 1835).
"Untersuchungen ?ber die ehemalige Verbreitung und die g?nzliche Vertilgung der von Steller, beobachteten nordichen Seekuh." St. Petersburg. 1838.
"Ber's Journey to New Land." 1838.
"Proposal for breeding quinoa in the northern regions of the Russian Empire." St. Petersburg, 1839.
"Statistische und ethnographische Nachrichten ?ber die russishen Besitzungen an der Nordwestkuste von Amerika". St. Petersburg, 1839.
“Materials for the knowledge of non-melting soil ice in Siberia” - the monograph was written (1842), translated into Russian (1940), published by Yakutsk: Publishing House of the Institute of Permafrost Studies of the SB RAS (ed. R. M. Kamensky). - 2000. - 160 p.
"Nachrichten aus Sibirien und der Kirgisen-Steppe". St. Petersburg, 1845.
"On ethnographic research in general and in Russia in particular." 1846.
"Man in natural-historical terms." St. Petersburg, 1850.
"Materials for the history of fishing in Russia and in its seas" St. Petersburg, 1854.
"Kaspische Studien". St. Petersburg, 1855
"On the skulls of the Rhaetian Romans." 1859
"On the most ancient inhabitants of Europe." St. Petersburg, 1863
"Selbstbiographie von Dr. Karl Ernst von Baer". St. Petersburg, 1866
"Das neuentdeckte Wrangells-Land". Dorpat, Gl?ser, 1868.