Heinz Christian Pander

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Heinz Christian Pander, name sometimes given as Christian Heinrich Pander (1794-1865) was a Russian biologist and embryologist who was born in Riga. In 1817 he received his doctorate from the University of Würzburg, and spent several years (1827-1842), performing scientific research from his estate near Riga. In 1820 he took part in a scientific expedition to Bokhara as a naturalist, and in 1826 became a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Pander studied the chick embryo and discovered the germ layers (i.e., three distinct regions of the embryo that five 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 (1792-1876), who expanded Pander's concept of germ layers to include all vertebrates.

Pander performed important studies in the field of paleontology, and was the first scientist to describe primitive creatures known as conodonts. He also did extensive research of fossils found in the Devonian and Silurian geological strata of the Baltic regions.

[edit] 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, 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)