Uwe Hossfeld, Michal V. Šimůnek, Ulrich Kutschera:
Neo-Darwinism and August Weismann

Abstract

The article commemorates the centenary of the death of August Weismann (1834–1914), a German zoologist who in the second half of the 19th century contributed significantly to the development of the theory of evolution (which he called the ‘transmutation hypothesis’) and the theory of selection. The article also describes some 19th century ways of understanding neo-Darwinism and Weismann’s contribution to its general acceptance, which was fundamentally linked to a new formulation of the theory of heredity (which used the notion of heredity of germ plasm/Keimplasma) and a radical departure from Lamarckism.

Language: czech

Keywords: evolution; neodarwinismus; Weismann