Karl Ernst von Baer's Laws of Embryology

Abstract

In 1828, while working at the University of Konigsberg in Konigsberg, Germany Karl Ernst von Baer proposed four laws of animal development, which came to be called von Baer's laws of embryology. With these laws, von Baer described the development (ontogeny) of animal embryos while also critiquing popular theories of animal development at the time. Von Baer's laws of embryology provided a framework to research the relationships and patterns between the development of different classes of organisms, and the patterns between this development and the diversification of species on Earth (phylogeny).