Heinz Christian Pander
Encyclopedia
Heinz Christian Pander, aka Christian Heinrich Pander (24 July 1794 - 22 September 1865) was a Baltic German
Baltic provinces
The Baltic governorates , originally the Ostsee governorates is a collective name for the administrative units of the Russian Empire set up at the territories of Swedish Estonia, Swedish Livonia and, afterwards, of Duchy of Courland and Semigallia .-History:The Treaty of Vilnius of 1561 included...

 biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...

 and embryologist who was born in Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

. In 1817 he received his doctorate from the University of Würzburg
University of Würzburg
The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...

, and spent several years (1827–1842), performing scientific research from his estate in Carnikava
Carnikava
Carnikava is a village in Carnikava municipality, Latvia. Carnikava had 3,721 residents as of 2006....

 (Zarnikau) on the banks of the Gauja
Gauja
The Gauja is one of the longest rivers in Latvia, with a length of and a catchment area of . Its source is in the hills southeast of Cēsis. It first flows east and north and forms the border with Estonia for about . South of Valga and Valka, it turns west towards Valmiera, continuing southwest...

 River near Riga. In 1820 he took part in a scientific expedition to Bokhara as a naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...

, and in 1826 became a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Pander studied the chick embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...

 and discovered the germ layer
Germ layer
A germ layer, occasionally referred to as a germinal epithelium, is a group of cells, formed during animal embryogenesis. Germ layers are particularly pronounced in the vertebrates; however, all animals more complex than sponges produce two or three primary tissue layers...

s (i.e., three distinct regions of the embryo that give rise to the specific organ system). Because of these findings, he is considered by many to be the "founder of embryology". His work in embryology was continued by Karl Ernst von Baer
Karl Ernst von Baer
Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer, Edler von Huthorn also known in Russia as Karl Maksimovich Baer was an Estonian naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, a founding father of embryology, explorer of European Russia and Scandinavia, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a...

, who expanded Pander's concept of germ layers to include all vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...

s.

Pander performed important studies in the field of paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...

, and was the first scientist to describe primitive creatures known as conodont
Conodont
Conodonts are extinct chordates resembling eels, classified in the class Conodonta. For many years, they were known only from tooth-like microfossils now called conodont elements, found in isolation. Knowledge about soft tissues remains relatively sparse to this day...

s. He also did extensive research on fossils found in the Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...

 and Silurian
Silurian
The Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician Period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Devonian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya . As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the...

 geological strata of the Baltic regions. His study of trilobite
Trilobite
Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...

s from this age led to the adjective 'Panderian', first used by the Canadian palaeontologist, Elkanah Billings
Elkanah Billings
Elkanah Billings is often referred to as Canada's first paleontologist. Billings was born on a farm by the Rideau River outside Bytown, now known as Billings Estate. His parents were named Lamira and Braddish Billings. His family included an older sister named Sabra and an older brother Braddish II...

.

Selected writings

  • Beiträge zur Naturkunde aus den Ostseeprovinzen Rußlands, (Contributions from the Natural History of the Baltic Regions) Dorpat, (1820).
  • Vergleichende Osteologie (Comparative Osteology) Seven Volumes, with Eduard Joseph d'Alton
    Eduard Joseph d'Alton
    Eduard Joseph d'Alton was a German engraver and naturalist who was a native of Aquileia . He studied in Vienna, and later worked in several locations, including Weimar and Jena. Afterwards he moved to Würzburg, where he worked with embryologist Christian Heinrich Pander...

    , Bonn: Weber, (1821–1828).
  • Monographie der Fossilen Fische des silurischen Systems der Russisch-Baltischen Gouvernements (Monograph of Fossil Fish from the Silurian Stratum of the Baltic Regions), St. Petersburg, (1856)
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