{{Short description|German zoologist (1822–1898)}} {{about|the zoologist|his son, the chemist|Rudolf Leuckart (chemist)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Rudolf Leuckart |image = Rudolf Leuckart 2.jpg |image_size = 230px |caption = Rudolf Leuckart |birth_date = 7 October 1822 |birth_place = [[Helmstedt]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1898|2|6|1822|10|7|df=y}} |death_place = [[Leipzig]] |residence = |citizenship = [[Germany]] |nationality = |ethnicity = |field = [[zoology]]<br/> [[parasitology]] |work_institutions = [[University of Giessen]]<br/>[[University of Leipzig]] |alma_mater = [[University of Göttingen]] |doctoral_advisor = [[Rudolf Wagner]] |notable_students = [[Otto Bütschli]]<br />[[Hugo Münsterberg]]<br />[[Edward Laurens Mark]]<br />[[William Patten (zoologist)|William Patten]]<br />[[Oskar Krancher]] |known_for = ''[[Taenia saginata]]''<br/>''[[Taenia solium]]'' |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }}
'''Karl Georg Friedrich Rudolf Leuckart''' (7 October 1822 – 6 February 1898) was a German [[zoologist]] and a professor at the [[University of Giessen]] and then at [[Leipzig University|Leipzig]]. He was a pioneer of parasitology research and established the field through a two-volume work on the parasites of humans. He has been called the "father of parasitology". He published a two-volume work on the parasites of humans. He helped identify the life-history of ''[[Trichinella spiralis|Trichinella]]'' and helped manage [[trichinosis]]. He was also known for developing a series of illustrated wall charts for use in zoology instruction. He was a nephew to [[naturalist]] [[Friedrich Sigismund Leuckart]] (1794–1843). His son [[Rudolf Leuckart (chemist)|Rudolf Leuckart]] became a chemist but died young.
== Life and work == Leuckart was born in [[Helmstedt]] to the son of book printer and his wife Friederike Dorothea Charlotte (1785–1834) née Theuerkauf. He studied at the local school and became interested in entomology at an early age through the influence of the Helmstedt lepidopterist [[Hermann von Heinemann|Hermann von Heinemann.]] In 1842 he joined the [[University of Göttingen]] to study medicine and here he was influenced by the physiologist [[Rudolf Wagner]]. In 1845 he graduated and became Wagner's assistant. He worked with [[Heinrich Frey]] on rewriting "Anatomy of the Invertebrates" (1845). He also wrote a dissertation in 1845 “De monstris eorumque causis et ortu” that earned him a doctorate. He habilitated in 1847. He participated in an expedition into the North Sea and then began to examine the classification and evolution of marine organisms. He was responsible for splitting Cuvier's phylum Radiata into Coelenterata and Echinodermata. He became an associate professor at the University of Giessen in 1850 and became a full professor in 1855. He married Amalie (1827–1921) daughter of professor Eduard Henke (1783–1829) in 1850. He examined sexual reproduction in insects and discovered the micropyle of the egg. He also examined parthenogenesis in bees. In 1851 he took an interest in the siphonophores and introduced the idea of "polymorphism" (different from the modern sense) where many individual organisms formed a larger body.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nyhart |first1=Lynn K. |last2=Lidgard |first2=Scott |date=2011 |title=Individuals at the Center of Biology: Rudolf Leuckart's Polymorphismus der Individuen and the Ongoing Narrative of Parts and Wholes. With an Annotated Translation |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10739-011-9268-6 |journal=Journal of the History of Biology |language=en |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=373–443 |doi=10.1007/s10739-011-9268-6 |pmid=21308403 |issn=0022-5010}}</ref> In Giessen he was involved in studies on ''[[Trichinella spiralis]]''. Further work on parasitic worms led to his most famous work - ''Die menschlichen Parasiten und die von ihnen herrührenden Krankheiten'' (1863-69) on human parasites and their diseases. In 1869 he moved to the [[Leipzig University|University of Leipzig]] where he began to work on invertebrate comparative anatomy. Here he began to study the evolution of the eye. He served as a rector in 1877 and he also developed a system of wall charts for teaching biology. With his colleagues [[Hinrich Nitsche]] and [[Carl Chun]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dolan |first=John Richard |date=2023 |title=Protozoa in the remarkable wall charts of Leuckart and Nitsche's Zoologische Wandtaflen |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1434461023000366 |journal=Protist |volume=174 |issue=4 |article-number=125974 |doi=10.1016/j.protis.2023.125974 |pmid=37454425 |issn=1434-4610}}</ref> they developed 101 charts between 1877 and 1892.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Abbott |first=Alison |date=2003 |title=Science in culture |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/421580a |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=421 |issue=6923 |pages=580 |doi=10.1038/421580a |pmid=12571572 |bibcode=2003Natur.421..580A |issn=0028-0836}}</ref> In 1898 he suffered from pneumonia which worsened his suffering following the death of his son Rudolf in 1889 and that of a daughter.<ref>{{cite book |author=Querner, Hans |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118572180.html#ndbcontent |title=Neue Deutsche Biographie |year=1985 |volume=14 |page=372 |chapter=Leuckart, Rudolf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Heß, Wilhelm |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118572180.html#adbcontent |title=Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie |year=1906 |volume=51 |pages=672–675 |chapter=Leuckart, Karl Georg Friedrich Rudolf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stiles |first=Ch. Wardell |date=1895 |title=The Rudolf Leuckart Celebration |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.2.42.523.b |journal=Science |language=en |volume=2 |issue=42 |pages=523–524 |doi=10.1126/science.2.42.523.b |issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In 1877 he became honorary foreign member of the [[Linnean Society of London]].<ref name=Linnean>{{cite wikisource | title = Proceedings of Scientific Societies: Linnean Society of London : May 3, 1877 | journal = [[The Zoologist]] | editor-last = Harting | editor-first = James Edmund | editor-link = James Edmund Harting | series = 3 | volume = 1 | issue = 6 | date = June 1877 | page = 265 | wslink = The Zoologist/3rd series, vol 1 (1877)/Issue 6/Proceedings of Scientific Societies#265 }}</ref>
== Parasitology == Leuckart is remembered for his work in [[parasitology]], particularly research regarding [[tapeworm]] and [[trichinosis]]. He was the first to prove that ''[[Taenia saginata]]'' occurs only in cattle (and humans), and ''[[Taenia solium]]'' occurs only in swine (and humans). His study of ''[[Trichina]]'' helped support [[Rudolf Virchow]]'s campaign to create meat inspection laws in Germany.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lukács|first=D |date=February 1978|title= Karl Georg Friedrich Rudolf Leuckart, founder of parasitology|journal=Orvosi Hetilap|volume=119|issue=6|pages=341–3| pmid = 343042}}</ref> With Virchow and [[Friedrich Albert von Zenker]] (1825–1898), he was the first to document the life cycle of the parasite ''[[Trichinella spiralis]]'' in swine and humans.
He, and independently [[Algernon Thomas]], experimentally discovered the life-cycle of the [[sheep liver fluke]] in 1881–1883.<ref name=ChengHistory>{{cite book |last=Cheng |first=Thomas C. |title=General Parasitology |year=1973 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-170750-7 |pages=125–128}}</ref>
Today the "Rudolf-Leuckart-Medaille" is an annual award given for research in parasitology by the ''Deutschen Gesellschaft für Parasitologie'' (German Society of Parasitology).
== Other contributions == Leuckart is credited with splitting [[George Cuvier]]'s ''Radiata'' into two phyla: [[Coelenterata]] and [[Echinodermata]].<ref name="AD">[http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Leuckart,_Rudolf ADB: Leuckart, Rudolf] @ ''[[Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie]]''.</ref> In the field of [[entomology]], he conducted investigations into the [[Micropyle (zoology)|micropyle]] and fertilization of [[insect egg]]s, the reproduction and development involving members of [[Pupipara]], [[parthenogenesis]] among insects, and studies on the anatomy and life history of the [[honeybee]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kellogg |first=Vernon L. |date=1898 |title=Rudolf Leuckart |journal=Psyche: A Journal of Entomology |language=en |volume=8 |issue=265 |pages=214–216 |doi=10.1155/1898/26261 |doi-access=free |issn=0033-2615}}</ref>
A quote attributed to Rudolf Leuckart:{{Blockquote|It is not possible for man, as a thinking being, to close his mind to the knowledge that he is ruled by the same power as is the animal world. Like the despised worm he lives in dependence upon external commands, and like the worm he perishes, even when he has shaken the world through the power of his ideas|Rudolf Leuckart}}
==Legacy== A [[species]] of Australian lizard, ''[[Anomalopus leuckartii]]'', is named in his honor.<ref>[[species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]]; [[species:Michael Watkins|Watkins, Michael]]; [[species:Michael Grayson|Grayson, Michael]] (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (Leuckart, p. 156).</ref>
{{Botanist|Leuck.|Leuckart, Rudolf}}
== Written works == * '' Beiträge zur Kenntnis wirbelloser Tiere'', (Contributions to the knowledge of [[invertebrate]] animals) with [[Heinrich Frey]]; Braunschweig, 1847. * ''Über die Morphologie und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der wirbellosen Tiere'', (On the [[morphology (biology)|morphology]] and relationships of invertebrate animals) Braunschweig, 1848 * ''Zur Morphologie und Anatomie der Geschlechtsorgane'', (Morphology and anatomy of reproductive organs) Braunschweig, 1848. * ''Beiträge zur Lehre der Befruchtung'', (Contributions to the theory of [[fertilization]]) Göttinger Nachrichten, 1849. * ''Über den Polymorphismus der Individuen oder die Erscheinungen der Arbeitsteilung in der Natur'', (On [[Polymorphism (biology)|polymorphism]] of individuals or the phenomena of division of labor in nature), Gießen, 1851. * ''Zoologische Untersuchungen'', (Zoological research) Gießen, 1853–54, 3 Hefte. * ''Vergleichende Anatomie und Physiologie'', (Comparative Anatomy and [[Physiology]]) Leuckart & [[Carl Bergmann (anatomist)|Bergmann]], Stuttgart, 1852. * ''Die Fortpflanzung und Entwicklung der Pupiparen'', (The reproduction and development of [[Pupipara]]) Halle, 1857. * ''Zur Kenntnis des Generationswechsels und der Parthenogenesis bei den Insekten'', (Change in generations and [[parthenogenesis]] in [[insects]]) Frankfurt, 1858. * ''Untersuchungen über Trichina spiralis'', (Studies on Trichina spiralis) Leipzig, 1860, second edition- 1866. * ''Die Blasenwürmer und ihre Entwicklung'', ([[Bladder-worm]]s and their development) Gießen, 1856. * ''Die Parasiten des Menschen und die von ihnen herrührenden Krankheiten'', (Parasites of man and the diseases arising from them), Leipzig, 1863–76, 2 volumes; second edition- 1879 ff. * ''Die Entwicklunggeschichte des Leberegels (Distonum hepaticum, dt.)'', (Developmental history of the [[liver fluke]] (Distonum hepatic dt.) in: Zoologischer Anzeiger 4, 1881. * ''Neue Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Baes und der Lebensgeschichte der Nematoden'', (New contributions to the knowledge of Baes and the life history of [[nematodes]], 1887.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Rudolf Leuckart}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160811174816/http://legacy.mblwhoilibrary.org/leuckart/wall_charts/slide_index.html Leuckart Wall Charts] ([https://archive.org/details/erklrungenzudenz01leuc explanations]) * [https://books.google.com/books?id=JWYSAAAAYAAJ&dq=Leuckart+Zenker+Trichinella&pg=PA423 The Animal Parasites of Man] by Harold Benjamin Fantham and Maximilian Gustav Braun * [https://archive.org/details/b21364242 The parasites of man, and the diseases which proceed from them] (1886, translated by William Hoyle) * List of published works copied from the [[German Wikipedia]]. * Rudolf Leuckart (1848) [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/nat_hist/id/37724 ''Ueber die Morphologie und die Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der wirbellosen Thiere''] – digital facsimile from the [[Linda Hall Library]]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leuckart, Rudolf}} [[Category:1822 births]] [[Category:1898 deaths]] [[Category:People from Helmstedt]] [[Category:Scientists from the Duchy of Brunswick]] [[Category:19th-century German zoologists]] [[Category:Academic staff of Leipzig University]] [[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]] [[Category:Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala]]