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Haeckel’s embryos: fraud not proven

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Notes

  1. Though Richardson never retracted this judgment, he seems to have moderated his view in a subsequent article (see Richardson and Keuck 2003). The authors write: “Haeckel’s much criticized embryo drawings are important as phylogenetic hypotheses, teaching aids, and evidence for evolution. While some criticisms of the drawings are legitimate, other are more tendentious” (p. 495).

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Jerry Coyne who encouraged me to write this essay, based on my book The Tragic Sense of Life, and who patiently made many suggestions for improvement. I also owe thanks to my graduate students—Christopher DiTeresi, Alessandro Pajewski, and Trevor Pearce—who initially pointed out the discrepancies in the photographs.

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  1. Morris Fishbein Center for the History of Science, The University of Chicago, 1126 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Robert J. Richards

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  1. Robert J. Richards
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Correspondence to Robert J. Richards.

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Richards, R.J. Haeckel’s embryos: fraud not proven. Biol Philos 24, 147–154 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-008-9140-z

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