Gerhard Fankauser was an embryologist known for his studies on amphibian development. He was a Princeton professor from 1931 to 1969.

Fankhauser's research showed the correlation between ploidy and cell size.

In his research on Triturus viridescens, a species of newt

Newt

A newt is an aquatic amphibian of the family Salamandridae, although not all aquatic salamanders are considered newts. Newts are classified in the subfamily Pleurodelinae of the family Salamandridae, and are found in North America, Europe and Asia...

, Fankhauser discovered that cell size was not the determining factor in the size of an organism. In his 1945 paper, Fankhauser showed that although the nephric duct cells of polyploidy

Polyploidy

Polyploid is a term used to describe cells and organisms containing more than two paired sets of chromosomes. Most eukaryotic species are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes — one set inherited from each parent. However polyploidy is found in some organisms and is especially common...

embryos are larger, the size of the duct itself remained constant