Rudolf Leuckart

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This article is about the zoologist. For the chemist, see Rudolf Leuckart (chemist)

Rudolf Leuckart
Rudolf Leuckart
Born	October 7, 1822 Halmstedt
Died	February 6, 1898
Citizenship	Germany
Fields	zoology parasitology
Institutions	University of Giessen University of Leipzig
Alma mater	University of Göttingen
Known for	Taenia saginata Taenia solium

Karl Georg Friedrich Rudolf Leuckart (October 7, 1822 - February 6, 1898) was a German zoologist who was born in Halmstedt. After earning his degree from the University of Göttingen he went on a scientific expedition to the North Sea to study marine invertebrates. He later was a professor of zoology at the University of Giessen (1850) and the University of Leipzig (1869).

Leuckart is remembered for his work in parasitology, particularly his research regarding tapeworm and trichinosis. He was the first to prove that Taenia saginata occurs only in cattle, and Taenia solium occurs only in swine. His study of Trichina helped support Rudolf Virchow's campaign to create meat inspection laws in Germany.

Leuckart split George Cuvier's Radiata into two phylum; Coelenterata and Echinodermata. He is also credited for the classification of Metazoa. His excellent descriptions of morphologic details gave credence to the idea that zoological evolution can be learned through its anatomical changes. Between 1877 and 1892, Leuckart developed a series of scientific wall charts; these charts have been used worldwide as teaching aids. Today the "Rudolf-Leuckart-Medaille" is an annual award for research in parasitology by the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Parasitologie (German Society of Parasitology).

A quote attributed to Rudolf Leckart:

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

[edit] Written Works

Beiträge zur Kenntnis wirbelloser Tiere, R. Leuckart, Heinrich Frey; Braunschweig, 1847
Über die Morphologie und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der wirbellosen Tiere, Braunschweig, 1848
Zur Morphologie und Anatomie der Geschlechtsorgane, Braunschweig, 1848
Beiträge zur Lehre der Befruchtung, Göttinger Nachrichten, 1849
Über den Polymorphismus der Individuen oder die Erscheinungen der Arbeitsteilung in der Natur, Gießen, 1851
Zoologische Untersuchungen, Gießen, 1853-54, 3 Hefte
Vergleichende Anatomie und Physiologie, R. Leuckart, Bergmann, Stuttgart, 1852
Die Fortpflanzung und Entwicklung der Pupiparen, Halle, 1857
Zur Kenntnis des Generationswechsels und der Parthenogenesis bei den Insekten, Frankfurt, 1858
Untersuchungen über Trichina spiralis, Leipzig, 1860, 2. Aufl. 1866
Die Blasenwürmer und ihre Entwicklung, Gießen, 1856
Die Parasiten des Menschen und die von ihnen herrührenden Krankheiten, Leipzig, 1863-76, 2 Bde.; 2. Aufl. 1879 ff.
Die Entwicklunggeschichte des Leberegels (Distonum hepaticum, dt.), in: Zoologischer Anzeiger 4, 1881
Neue Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Baes und der Lebensgeschichte der Nematoden, in: Abbh. Königl. Sächs. Ges. Wiss. Math.-physikal. Cl 1887