Dissertation Research: History of Evolutionary Biology in Germany from the 1880s through the 1920s

这篇论文的研究项目将集中于关于进化机制的科学辩论的历史研究。它将集中于从1880年的S到1920年的S的德国和奥地利，并考虑到比以前详细分析的更广泛的达尔文主义和非达尔文主义理论。被考虑的更著名的进化学家有奥古斯特·魏斯曼、恩斯特·海克尔、西奥多·艾默、路德维希·普拉特、理查德·戈德施密特和保罗·卡默勒。该项目将建立在关于德国社会达尔文主义、生命科学的学科形成和德国科学的文化方面的最新文献以及一些关于科学家个人的专著提供的坚实基础上。本文将试图揭示进化生物学领域的多样性和争议性，并展示实验证据是如何被用来支持相反的观点的。这个项目还将考虑1900年前后遗传、发育和细胞学的进步如何影响进化论的争论，因为达尔文主义者和非达尔文主义者都必须将他们的假设机制与新的发现相一致。

This dissertation research project will focus on a historical study of scientific debate over mechanisms of evolution. It will concentrate on Germany and Austria from the 1880's through the 1920's and take into account a wider range of Darwinian and non-Darwinian theories than has been analyzed in detail before. Among the better known evolutionists to be considered are August Weismann, Ernst Haeckel, Theodor Eimer, Ludwig Plate, Richard Goldschmidt, and Paul Kammerer. The project will build upon the solid foundation provided by recent literature on social Darwinism in Germany, discipline formation in the life sciences, and cultural aspects of German science, as well as a number of monographs on individual scientists. The attempt will be made to bring out the diversity and contentiousness within the field of evolutionary biology and to show how experimental evidence was used to support opposing views. A special effort will be made to sort out the varieties of Lamarckism and the sources of their appeal during this period of apparent `eclipse of Darwinism.` This project will also consider how advances in heredity, development and cytology around 1900 affected the evolutionary debates as Darwinians and non-Darwinians alike had to reconcile their postulated mechanisms with new findings