Ernst Haeckel

Haeckel published a book with an illustration juxtaposing three embryos (dog, chicken, and turtle) and pointing out, as evidence in support of Darwin’s theory, that the three images were indistinguishable. A sharp-eyed reviewer noted that they were indeed indistinguishable. The same woodcut had been printed three times. Haeckel’s reputation never recovered. --Richard John Neuhaus, While We’re At It, First Things, February 2009, review of The Tragic Sense of Life, by Robert Richards


Recommended reading:
by Ernst Haeckel at Reading Rat


Criticism (articles, essays, reviews):

His great achievement was to create an evolutionary synthesis that drew on new fields and data to provide powerful demonstrations and empirical evidence for the descent and modification of species... --P. D. Smith,, Times Literary Supplement, July 25, 2008, review of The Tragic Sense of Life: Ernst Haeckel and the Struggle over Evolutionary Thought, by Robert J. Richards (via Arts & Letters Daily)