Gegenbaur, Karl (1826-1903)

German comparative anatomist and champion of evolutionary theory. Gegenbaur pioneered studies comparing the anatomy of different animals and argued that the similarities were evidence that mammals had evolved from a common ancestor.

By the middle of the 19th century, much of the general anatomy of both humans and lower mammalian species had been described. Indeed, descriptive anatomy was not far from where it is now. Little was known, however, about the anatomical differences between races of humans and virtually nothing was known of the features that humans share with other animals. Gegenbaur believed that common evolutionary descent is evident in the anatomical similarities between species grouped in the same taxonomic category.

For example, the same skeletal elements make up the forelimbs of cats, bats, humans, and whales. This is not because they have been engineered independently as the best way to construct the superstructure of a whale fin, human limb, and bat wing. Rather, the limbs of these different mammals are variations on a common anatomical theme that has been modified for various functions.

Gegenbaur was born in Würzburg and graduated in medicine from the University of Würzburg 1851. He held a teaching post at the medical schools at Jena before settling in Heidelberg 1873.