Curt Alfred Herbst (29 May 1866 – 9 May 1946) was a German embryologist and zoologist who studied development of cells and tissues. He noted the mechanosensory organs now known as Herbst corpuscles in the bills of birds.

Curt Alfred Herbst
Born
Curt Alfred Herbst

(1866-05-29)29 May 1866
Died9 May 1946(1946-05-09) (aged 79)

Herbst was born to Heinrich and Henriette Martin in Meuselwitz, Thuringia. He was educated in Geneva and Jena where his teachers included Carl Vogt and Ernst Haeckel. He also went to the Polytechnic in Zurich to study chemistry. He studied echinoderm larvae and noted the effect of lithium ion gradients on morphogenesis and noted sex-determination in Bonellia viridis through environmental concentrations of ions.[1][2][3][4][5] After obtaining a Ph.D. in 1889 he visited Southeast Asia along with Hans Driesch, visiting Ceylon, Java and the Trieste marine station. He then went to Heidelberg to study under Otto Bütschli and became an associate professor in 1906. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Halle.[6] His students included Helmuth Plessner.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ Herbst, C. (1928). "Untersuchungen zur Bestimmung des Geschlechts. I. Mitteilung: ein neuer Weg zur Losung des Geschlechtsbestimmungsproblem bei Bonellia viridis". Sitz.-Ber. Heidelberg. Akad. Wiss., Math.-Nat. Kl. (in German). 19 (2): 1–19.
  2. ^ Herbst, C. (1929). "Untersuchungen zur Bestimmung des Geschlechts. II. Mitteilung: weitere Experimente tiber die Vermannlichung indifferenter Bonellia-larven durch kunstliche Mittel". Sitz.-Ber. Heidelb. Akad. Wiss., Math.-nat. Kl. 20 (16): l-43.
  3. ^ Herbst, C. (1932). "Untersuchungen zur Bestimmung des Geschlechts. III. Mitteilung: Die Vermannlichung der Larven durch Kupferspuren". Naturwissenschaften. 20 (22–24): 315–319. doi:10.1007/BF01505462. S2CID 26247771.
  4. ^ Herbst, C. (1935). "Untersuchungen zur Bestimmung des Geschlechts. IV. Mitteilung: die Abhangigkeit des Geschlechts von Kaliumgehalt des umgebenden Mediums bei Bonellia viridis". Wilhelm Roux Arch. Entwicklungsmech. Org. 132: 561–599.
  5. ^ Herbst, C. (1936). "Untersuchungen zur Bestimmung des Geschlechts. V. Mitteilung: die Notwendigkeit des Magnesiums fur die Lebenserhaltung und die Weiterentwicklung der Bonellia-larven und seine Bedeutung fur die geschlechtliche Differenzierung derselben". Wilhelm Roux Arch. Entwicklungsmech. Org. 134 (2): 313–330. doi:10.1007/BF00573986. PMID 28354443. S2CID 27831924.
  6. ^ Oppenheimer, Jane M. (1991). "Curt Herbst's Contributions to the Concept of Embryonic Induction". In Gilbert, Scott F. (ed.). A Conceptual History of Modern Embryology. Developmental Biology. Vol. 7. Boston, MA: Springer US. pp. 63–89. doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-6823-0_4. ISBN 978-1-4615-6825-4. PMID 1804218.
  7. ^ Querner, Hans (1969). "Herbst, Curt". Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German). Vol. 8. p. 593.