Ludwig Hermann Plate (16 August 1862 – 16 November 1937) was a German

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and student of

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; ; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, natural history, naturalist, eugenics, eugenicist, Philosophy, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biology, marine biologist and artist ...

. He wrote a "thorough and extensive defence" of

Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...

, but before Mendel's work had been assimilated in the

modern synthesis Modern synthesis or modern evolutionary synthesis refers to several perspectives on evolutionary biology, namely: * Modern synthesis (20th century), the term coined by Julian Huxley in 1942 to denote the synthesis between Mendelian genetics and s ...

. Born in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, Plate studied mathematics and natural sciences

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, where he attended the lectures of Ernst Haeckel. In 1888, he achieved the 'Habilitation' in zoology at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

. He was offered the Chair of Zoology at

Jena University The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is c ...

in 1909 through the help of Haeckel, and also became director of the Jena "Phyletisches Museum". Levit, Georgy S; Olsson, Lennart. (2007). ''Evolution on Rails Mechanisms and Levels of Orthogenesis''. In Volker Wissemann. ''Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology 11/2006''. Universitätsverlag Göttingen. pp. 113-115. He coined the term

Pleiotropy Pleiotropy () is a condition in which a single gene or genetic variant influences multiple phenotypic traits. A gene that has such multiple effects is referred to as a ''pleiotropic gene''. Mutations in pleiotropic genes can impact several trait ...

Evolutionary views

Plate was a proponent of what he called ''old-Darwinism'' or ''orthoevolution'', which included a supposedly directed form of natural selection, ''orthoselection''. According to Plate, old-Darwinism follows the ideas of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

but also integrates other mechanisms of evolution. He attempted to combine

Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

and

orthogenesis Orthogenesis, also known as orthogenetic evolution, progressive evolution, evolutionary progress, or progressionism, is an Superseded theories in science, obsolete biological hypothesis that organisms have an innate tendency to evolution, evolve ...

into a unified framework. Many of the factors of the

of the early 20th century were first mentioned by Plate. He held that random

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, ...

and natural selection have a major role in evolution. He also acknowledged population thinking. He differed from the modern synthesis in accepting non-Darwinian mechanisms of evolution such as the Lamarckian

inheritance of acquired characteristics Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

and orthogenesis. Plate coined the term ''orthoselection''. This term was later used by modern synthesis theorists such as

Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and Internationalism (politics), internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentiet ...

and Bernard Rensch. In his later writings he incorporated research from

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

into his evolutionary writings.

Legacy

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of Chilean lizard, '' Liolaemus platei'', is named in his honor.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Plate", p. 208).

Publications

*''Die Anatomie und Phylogenie der Chitonen'' (1901). *''Über die Bedeutung des Darwin'schen Selektionsprincips und Probleme der Artbildung'' (1903). *''Selektionprinzip und Problem der Artbildung: ein Handbuch der Darwinismus'' (1913). *''Die Abstammungslehre: Tatsachen, Theorien, Einwände und Folgerungen in kurzer Darstellung'' (1925).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plate, Ludwig 1862 births 1937 deaths German evolutionary biologists 20th-century German zoologists Lamarckism Orthogenesis Scientists from Bremen (city) Social Darwinism