Kammerer, Paul (1880–1926)

Austrian zoologist whose work on the genetics of the midwife toad was extremely controversial and his claims that acquired characteristics could be passed to the next generation were eventually disproved.

Kammerer's work was mainly upon amphibians, and he claimed that the male midwife toad could inherit the thick pigmented thumb pads found in other toads. His ideas met with opposition from his scientific peers and in 1923 he presented his work at Cambridge University and to the Linnaean Society in London. The toads from the controversial experiments were examined and the thumb pads were found to be stained with Indian ink. Kammerer denied any knowledge of tampering and committed suicide after the accusations were published.

Kammerer was born in Vienna and educated at the University of Vienna. He later worked in the area of genetic research.