What did rem do for biology? Climbers of the Northern capital. Baer Karl Maksimovich
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 began to be interested in various objects of nature early 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 activities 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 lessons in the lower classes. Greek language, in which Baer was completely unprepared.
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 insufficiency of the knowledge gained, he asked his father to send him to complete medical education abroad. 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 whole series special works on animal anatomy, 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 found brilliant confirmation of his thought in their development.
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 common name"Scholia and Corollaria". 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 has great value" 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 clarified - 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 brings with it a greater rotation speed 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 society, 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 physical strength began to betray 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 back 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); , 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); Mem. VI Ser. T. IV 1838); “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 activities 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 animal and flora Gulf of Finland, Kola Peninsula, Transcaucasia, Volga region, Black Sea, Azov, Caspian 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 recent years he completely abandoned life scientific activity 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. Studying the developmental features of embryos belonging to different types 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 characteristics environment. 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 invisible forces, forcing each organism to develop, without violating the principles of harmony, unity and integrity of the universe.
Karl Maksimovich Baer (1792–1876)
The famous naturalist - naturalist, founder of scientific embryology, geographer - traveler, researcher K. M. Baer was born on February 28, 1792 in the small town of Pipa, Ierva district, Estonian province.
His parents, considered nobles, came from a bourgeois environment. K. M. Baer spent his early childhood on the estate of his childless uncle, where he was left to his own devices. Until the age of 8, he was not even familiar with the alphabet. When he was eight years old, his father took him into his family, where within three weeks he caught up with his sisters in reading, writing and arithmetic. By the age of 10, under the guidance of a tutor, he had mastered planimetry and learned how to draw topographic maps. At the age of 12, he knew how to use a plant identification book and acquired solid skills in the art of compiling a herbarium.
In 1807, the father took his son to a noble school in Revel, and after tests he was immediately accepted into the upper class. Excellent academic progress, the young man was fond of excursions, compiling herbariums and collections.
In 1810, K. M. Baer entered the medical faculty of the University of Dorpat, preparing for a career as a doctor. His stay at the university was interrupted in 1812 by Napoleon's invasion of Russia. K. M. Baer went to the Russian army as a doctor, but soon fell ill with typhus. When Napoleon's army was expelled from Russia, K. M. Baer returned to Dorpat to continue his teaching.
K. M. Baer graduated from the University of Dorpat in 1814 and defended his dissertation “On Epidemic Diseases in Estland.” However, not considering himself sufficiently prepared for the responsible and high role of a doctor, he went to improve himself abroad, to Vienna. But those medical luminaries for whom the young doctor came to Vienna could not satisfy him in any way. The most famous of them, the therapist Hildenbrandt, became famous, among other things, for not prescribing any medications to his patients, as he tested the “expectant treatment method.”
Disillusioned with medicine, K. M. Baer intends to become a zoologist and anatomist. Having collected his belongings, K. M. Baer went on foot to Wurzburg to see the famous anatomist Professor Dellinger. At our first meeting, Dellinger, in response to K. M. Baer’s expressed desire to improve in zootomy (animal anatomy), said: “I’m not reading it this semester... But why do you need lectures? Bring here one animal, then another, dissect it and study its structure.” K. M. Baer bought leeches at the pharmacy and began his zootomy practice.
A happy accident helped him out: he received an offer from the Dorpat professor Burdakh to take the place of dissector-assistant of anatomy at the Department of Physiology in Konigsberg, where Burdakh had moved by this time.
As a deputy professor, K. M. Baer began teaching an independent course in 1817 with beautifully staged demonstrations and immediately gained fame; Burdakh himself attended his lectures several times. Soon K. M. Baer organized a wonderful anatomical study, and then a large zoological museum. His fame grew. He became a celebrity, and the University of Königsberg elected him full professor and director of the Anatomical Institute. K. M. Baer showed exceptional creative fertility. He taught a number of courses and conducted a number of studies on animal anatomy. His research culminated in 1826 with a brilliant discovery that “completed the centuries-long work of naturalists” (Academician V.I. Vernadsky): he discovered the egg of mammals and publicly demonstrated it in 1828 at a congress of naturalists and doctors in Berlin. In order to get an idea of the significance of this discovery, it is enough to say that the scientific embryology of mammals, and therefore of humans, was completely impossible until that initial principle was discovered - the egg from which the embryo of a higher animal develops. This discovery is the immortal merit of K. M. Baer in the history of natural sciences. In accordance with the spirit of the times, he wrote his memoirs about this discovery on Latin and dedicated Russian Academy Sciences in gratitude for his election in 1827 as a corresponding member. Many years later, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the scientific activity of K. M. Baer, the Russian Academy of Sciences presented him with a large medal with bas-relief image his head and the inscription around it: “Starting with an egg, he showed man to man.”
In Koenigsberg, K. M. Baer received recognition from the entire scientific world, here he started a family, but he is drawn to his native land. He corresponds with Dorpat and Vilna, where he is offered chairs. He dreams of a big trip to the north of Russia and in his letter to the first Russian circumnavigator, the famous admiral Ivan Fedorovich Krusenstern, asks him to give him “the opportunity to drop anchor in his fatherland.”
Soon he received an offer from the Russian Academy of Sciences to come to work in St. Petersburg, but the complete disorder of the academic institutions of that time did not allow him to immediately accept this offer, and he temporarily returned to Koenigsberg, where he leads, in his own words, the life of a “hermit crab” , immersing himself entirely in science. Intense long-term studies greatly undermined his health. The Prussian Ministry of Public Education found fault with him on literally every occasion. Minister von Altenstein officially reproached him for the fact that his scientific research was expensive, since K. M. Baer spent... 2000 eggs on his immortal research on the history of the development of the chicken. Conflicts with those in power grew. K. M. Baer asked St. Petersburg about the possibility of him coming to work at the Academy of Sciences and in response to this, in 1834 he was elected as a member. That same year he and his family left Konigsberg. As he himself wrote, “having decided to exchange Prussia for Russia, he was inspired only by the desire to benefit his homeland.”
What did K. M. Baer do in embryology? Despite the fact that in the 17th and 18th centuries many prominent researchers took part in the development of the doctrine of the embryonic development of animals, they failed to significantly advance research. It was generally accepted that in the germ cells there was a ready-made embryo with fully developed body parts - in fact, an adult organism, only of tiny size.
The science of that time was very much mistaken in believing that embryonic development is nothing more than the simple growth of a small organism to an adult state. No transformation allegedly took place.
K. M. Baer finally buried these misconceptions and created truly scientific embryology. His “History of the Development of Animals,” according to Charles Darwin’s outstanding comrade-in-arms, Thomas Hekely, represents “a work that contains the deepest philosophy of zoology and even biology in general,” and the famous zoologist Albert Kölliker argued that this book is “the best of all , which is in the embryological literature of all times and peoples.”
Studying the development of a chicken, K. M. Baer traced the picture of its development step by step. The process of embryonic development first appeared before the astonished eyes of naturalists in all its simplicity and grandeur.
With the move to St. Petersburg, the young academician dramatically changed both his scientific interests and lifestyle. In his new place, he is attracted and beckoned by the boundless expanses of Russia. The vast but little explored Russia of that time required comprehensive study. K. M. Baer becomes a geographer - traveler and explorer natural resources countries.
Throughout his life, K. M. Baer made many trips within Russia and abroad. His first trip to Novaya Zemlya, which he undertook in 1837, lasted only four months. The circumstances were extremely unfavorable for the trip. Capricious winds delayed the voyage. The sailing schooner "Krotov", placed at the disposal of K. M. Baer, was extremely small and not suitable for expeditionary purposes. Topographic surveys and meteorological observations of K. M. Baer's expedition gave an idea of the relief and climate of Novaya Zemlya. It was found that the Novaya Zemlya upland, geologically, is a continuation of the Ural ridge. The expedition did especially a lot in the field of knowledge of the fauna and flora of Novaya Zemlya. C. M. Baer was the first naturalist to visit these islands. He collected the most valuable collections of animals and plants living there.
In subsequent years, K. M. Baer made dozens of trips and expeditions not only “through towns and villages” of Russia, but also abroad. Far from it full list the most important of these journeys. In 1839, together with his son, he made an expedition to the islands of the Gulf of Finland, and in 1840 to Lapland. In 1845 he made a trip to the Mediterranean Sea. During the period 1851–1857, he undertook a number of expeditions to Lake Peipus and the Baltic, to the Volga delta and to the Caspian Sea in order to study the state of fisheries in these areas. In 1858, K. M. Baer again traveled abroad to a congress of naturalists and doctors. In subsequent years (1859 and 1861) he again traveled around Europe.
They predicted a disaster Aral Sea back in 1861, when he traveled to those parts to find out the reasons for its shallowing. Moreover, he refuted the version, inflated for mercantile purposes by the coasting company, that this shallowing occurs due to ballast thrown out from incoming ships. K. M. Baer had an insatiable passion for travel: being already an eighty-year-old man, he dreamed of a big expedition to the Black Sea.
The most productive and richest in its consequences was his large expedition to the Caspian Sea, which lasted with short interruptions for four years (1853-1856).
Predatory fishing at the mouth of the Volga and in the Caspian Sea - an area that provided a fifth of all fish production in Russia at that time - led to a catastrophic drop in fish catches and threatened the loss of this major fishing base. To explore the fish resources of the Caspian Sea, a large expedition was organized, headed by sixty-year-old K. M. Baer. It furrowed the Caspian Sea in several directions from Astrakhan to the shores of Persia. He established that the reason for the decline in catches was not at all the impoverishment of nature, but rather the predatory methods of fishing and irrational primitive methods of processing them, which he called “insane waste of nature’s gifts.” K. M. Baer came to the conclusion that the cause of all disasters is a lack of understanding that existing methods fishing did not give the fish the opportunity to reproduce, since they were caught before spawning (spawning) and thereby doomed the fishery to an inevitable decline. K. M. Baer demanded the introduction of state control over the protection of fish stocks and their restoration.
Practical conclusions based on the work of this expedition were outlined by K. M. Baer in his famous “Proposals for best device Caspian fisheries", in which he developed a number of rules for the "most profitable use of fishery products." Through the efforts of K. M. Baer, the new Caspian herring replaced the “Dutch” herring, the import of which to us ceased due to the Crimean campaign. Having taught how to prepare Caspian herring, K. M. Baer increased the national wealth countries.
K. M. Baer was one of the initiators and founders of the Russian Geographical Society, in which he was elected first vice president.
“How can you continue to demand from educated person to know in a row all seven kings of Rome, whose existence is certainly problematic, and not to consider it a disgrace if he has no idea about the structure of his own body... I don’t know a task more worthy of a free and thinking man, as an exploration of oneself.”
In addition, K. M. Baer worked a lot in the field of craniology - the study of the skull.
He also laid the foundation for the craniological museum of the Academy of Sciences, which is one of the richest collections of this kind in the world. Of all his other works, we will focus only on his research on the Papuans and Alfurs, which, in turn, inspired our outstanding explorer and traveler Miklouho-Maclay to study these peoples in New Guinea.
K. M. Baer lectured on anatomy at the Medico-Surgical Academy and organized an Anatomical Institute for training doctors. As its leader, he attracted our famous compatriot, an outstanding surgeon and brilliant anatomist - N. I. Pirogov. K. M. Baer wrote a number of brilliant articles for the general public on anthropology and zoology.
K. M. Baer was an extremely cheerful person who loved communicating with people and retained this trait until his death. Despite universal admiration and admiration for his talent, he was extremely modest and attributed many of his discoveries, such as the discovery of the mammalian egg, to his exceptionally acute vision in his youth. External honors did not appeal to him. He was a staunch enemy of titles. During his long life, he was forced to attend many anniversaries and celebrations organized in his honor, but he was always dissatisfied with them and felt like a victim. “It’s much better when they scold you, then at least you can object, but with praise this is impossible and you have to endure everything that is done to you,” complained K. M. Baer. But he really loved to organize celebrations and anniversaries for others.
Caring attitude towards the needs of others, help in misfortune, participation in restoring the priority of a forgotten scientist, restoring the good name of an unjustly injured person, even helping from personal funds, were a common occurrence in the life of this big man. So, he took N.I. Pirogov under his protection from attacks from the press and, with personal funds, helped the Hungarian scientist Reguli finish his scientific work.
K. M. Baer highly appreciated the merits of the common people in the matter scientific research of your country. In one of his letters to Admiral Krusenstern, he wrote: “The common people almost always paved the way for scientific research. The whole of Siberia with its shores is open in this way. The government has always only appropriated for itself what the people discovered. Thus, Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands were annexed. Only later were they examined by the government... Enterprising people from the common people first discovered the entire chain of islands in the Bering Sea and the entire Russian coast of Northwestern America. Daredevils from the common people were the first to cross the sea strait between Asia and America, were the first to find the Lyakhov Islands and visited the deserts of New Siberia for many years before Europe knew anything about their existence... Everywhere since the time of Bering, scientific navigation has only followed in their footsteps...”
He was a great connoisseur of history and literature and even wrote several articles on mythology.
In 1852, K. M. Baer, due to his old age, retired and moved to Dorpat.
In 1864, the Academy of Sciences, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his scientific activity, presented him with a large medal and established the Baer Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of natural sciences.
Until his last day, K. M. Baer was interested in science, although his eyes were so weak that he was forced to resort to the help of a reader and scribe. Karl Maksimovich Baer died on November 28, 1876, quietly, as if falling asleep. Exactly 10 years later, on November 28, 1886, citizens of the city in which the great scientist was born, studied, lived and died, erected a monument to him by Academician Opekushin, a copy of which is located in the former building of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.
K. M. Baer was one of the largest zoologists in the world. With his activities he laid the foundation new era in animal science and thus left an indelible mark on the history of natural sciences.
Major life events
1807 - K. M. Baer enters the noble school in Reval, where, after tests, he was immediately accepted into the upper class.
1810 - K. M. Baer entered the medical faculty of the University of Dorpat.
1814 - K. M. Baer graduated from the University of Dorpat and defended his dissertation “On epidemic diseases in Estland.”
1816 - K. M. Baer received the position of prosector - assistant of anatomy at the Department of Physiology in Koenigsberg.
1826 - K. M. Baer discovered the mammalian egg and publicly demonstrated it in 1828 at a congress of naturalists and doctors in Berlin.
1827 - K. M. Baer was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
1837 - The first trip of K. M. Baer to Novaya Zemlya.
1839 - Together with his son K. M. Baer made an expedition to the islands of the Gulf of Finland.
1840 - Expedition to Lapland.
1845 - Trip to the Mediterranean Sea.
1852 - K. M. Baer, due to his old age, retired and moved to Dorpat.
1853–1856 - Large expedition of K. M. Baer to the Caspian Sea.
1864 - The Academy of Sciences, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the scientific activity of K. M. Baer, presented him with a large medal and established the Baer Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of natural sciences.
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. Behr, in 1840, began to publish, together with Helmersen, a special journal at the academy, entitled “Materials for Knowledge.” 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.
Beer's laws are most general signs 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, striking similarities are 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 In 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 2-kroon banknote.
Karl Baer's message will tell you about the contribution to biology made by the Russian naturalist and founder of embryology.
Karl Maksimovich Baer(life 1792-1876) was an outstanding naturalist, founder of embryology, one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society. He was awarded the honorary title of foreign corresponding member (1826), academician and member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Real name: Karl Ernst
Karl Baer's contributions to biology: briefly
Karl Baer made a huge contribution to the development of biology. He was the first to discover the human egg. While studying the developmental features of embryos that belong to various types multicellular animals, the scientist discovered some similarities present in the early stages of development. Over time they disappear. Karl Baer, a scientist, came to the conclusion that first the embryo develops traits inherent to the type, then the class, order, genus and species of the future organism. In addition, he identified the stages of embryo development in multicellular animals. The scientist described the characteristics and timing of growth, formation of the neural tube and spinal column. Karl Maksimovich studied the structural features of all vital organs. For what Karl Baer discovered, he went down in history as the founder of an entire science - embryology.
He was one of the first to suggest that human racial differences were formed under the influence of environmental conditions. To do this, Baer was the first to use the method of craniology, the study of the structural features of the skull. In general, the scientist was a supporter of human species unity, and therefore criticized all attempts and ideas to prove the superiority of one race over another. Therefore, he was often criticized by his more reactionary colleagues.
It is impossible not to note the contribution of Karl Baer to science as a geographer. He is the author of Baer's law, which states: rivers flowing along the meridian are characterized by a steeper western bank due to the fact that it is constantly being washed away by the current. The naturalist is also the founder of the Russian Geographical Society. A cape on Novaya Zemlya, a whole range of hills in the Caspian lowland and an island in the Taimyr Gulf were named in his honor. After completing an expedition to the Caspian Sea in 1853 -1856, Baer created geographical description Caspian Sea and wrote a series of publications on the geography of Russia.
