Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold

Karl (Carl) Theodor Ernst von Siebold (February 16, 1804 - April 7, 1885) was a German physiologist and zoologist. He was born at Würzburg, Bavaria, the son of a professor of obstetrics and a cousin (some say younger brother) to the naturalist and physician Philipp Franz von Siebold.

Academic history

Von Siebold studied medicine and science at the University of Berlin (under K. A. Rudolphi) and at Göttingen (under Johann Friedrich Blumenbach), submitting a thesis on the metamorphosis of the salamander. In 1831 he began to practise medicine in Heilsberg, East Prussia (now Lidzbark Warmiński), moving in 1834 to Königsberg, and then in the same year to be Director of the Hebammenschule in Danzig.

He became professor of zoology, comparative anatomy and veterinary science at Erlangen in 1840, professor of zoology and physiology at Freiburg in 1845, professor of physiology at Breslau in 1850, and professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at the Maximilians-Universität in Munich in 1853.

cientific work

His best known publication was the "Lehrbuch der Vergleichenden Anatomie"ref|lehrbuch ("Manual of Comparative Anatomy") (1845-48) which he co-edited with Hermann Friedrich Stannius, being largely responsible for the first volume, on invertebrates (see Principal Publications). His important contribution was he was responsible for the introduction of the taxa Arthropoda and Rhizopoda, and for defining the taxon Protozoa specifically for single-celled organisms. In 1848, together with R. A. von Kölliker he founded the leading biological journal "Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie", which he edited until his death.

His scientific accomplishments included (in 1851) collaborating with Theodor Bilharz on the first description of the blood-fluke "Schistosoma haematobium",ref|bilharz-52 (in 1853) the elucidation of the life cycle of the tapeworm "Echinococcus granulosus",ref|siebold-53 (in 1854) the suggestion that the cercariae of the fluke "Fasciola hepatica" were the infective stage which passed from the invertebrate to the vertebrate host,ref|siebold-54 and (in 1856) the discovery of parthenogenesis in insects.ref|siebold-56 He also published work on medusae, other cestodes and trematodes, and strepsipterans.

He died in Munich on 7 April, 1885. He was considered “an industrious and critical observer and ... as his biographer justly calls him, the Nestor of German zoology” (quote from 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica).

His collection of worm specimens was purchased for the Helminth Collection of the Natural History Museum in London in 1851. His fish collection (1804-1855), specializing in freshwater fishes of Bavaria, was deposited at the Zoological Cabinet of the Bavarian State in 1863, and though most were lost in WWII, some specimens remain at the Zoologische Staatssammlung in Munich.

Principal publications

"Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der wirbellosen Thiere" (Danzig, 1839)

"Lehrbuch ver vergleichenden Anatomie der Wirbellossen Thiere "(Berlin, 1845), being the first volume of "Lehrbuch der Vergleichenden Anatomie" (edited by C. T. E. von Siebold and H. Stannius, 1845-48)

"Die Süsswasserfische Mitteleuropas" (Leipzig, 1863)

Animals named after Siebold

*"Enhydris sieboldi" Schlegel, 1837 or Siebold's Water Snake
*"Ergasilus sieboldi" von Nordmann, 1832
*"Lineola sieboldii" (Kölliker, 1845) Gerlach & Riemann, 1974
*"Pegantha sieboldi" (Haeckel, 1879)
*"Trichosphaerium sieboldi" Schneider, 1878
*"Stenostomum sieboldi" von Graff, 1878
*"Colobomatus sieboldi" (Richiardi, 1877)
*"Hyalonema sieboldi" Gray, 1835

(source: Hans G. Hansson, Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names, Tjärnö Marine Biol. Lab., Sweden)

References

# "Lehrbuch ver vergleichenden Anatomie der Wirbellossen Thiere "(Berlin, 1845), being the first volume of "Lehrbuch der Vergleichenden Anatomie" (edited by C. T. E. von Siebold and H. Stannius, 1845-48)
# T. Bilharz and C. T. von Siebold, 1852-53. Ein Beitrag zur Helminthographia humana, aus brieflichen Mitteilungen des Dr. Bilharz in Cairo, nenst Bermerkungen von Prof. C. Th. von Siebold in Breslau. "Zeitschr. Wissensch. Zool." 4:53-76.
# C. T. von Siebold, 1853. Ueber die Verwandlung der Echinococcus-brut in Taenien. "Zeitschr. Wissensch. Zool." 4:409-425
# C. T. von Siebold. "Ueber die Band- und Blasenwürmer, nebst eimer Einleitung über die Entstehung der Eingeweidewürmer". Leipzig, 1854.
# K. T. E. von Siebold "Wahre partenogenesis bei Schmetterlingen und Bienen" (1856); translated by W. S. Dallas as "On a true parthenogenesis in moths and bees"

Other sources

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

and various websites