By studying sea urchins he proved that fertilization occurs due to the fusion of a sperm and egg cell.
He recognized the role of the cell nucleus during inheritance and chromosome reduction during meiosis: in 1876, he published his findings that fertilization includes the penetration of a spermatozoon into an egg cell..
By studying sea urchins he proved that fertilization occurs due to the fusion of a sperm and egg cell.
He recognized the role of the cell nucleus during inheritance and chromosome reduction during meiosis: in 1876, he published his findings that fertilization includes the penetration of a spermatozoon into an egg cell..
In fact, Hertwig defended his claim even when the more modern theory of chromosome continuity was proposed.
It took the work of Thomas Hunt Morgan for Hertwig to accept that chromosomes exchanged genes by crossing over.
Hertwig passed away 25 October 1922 in Berlin.
Dictionary of Scientific Biography 6:
In the year 1892, the German embryologist and anatomist named Oscar Hertwig suggested that organismic processes are the reflections of cellular processes; he, therefore, established cytology as a separate branch of the biology subject.
Hertwig became an assistant professor of anatomy at Jena in 1878 and full professor three years later.
He was the first chair of both cytology and embryology in Berlin from 1888 to 1921 and director of the new Anatomical-Biological Institute there.
German zoologist (1850–1937)
