History of
  Turbellarian Research
      compiled by Steve Schilling

Ernst Marcus

full name: Ernst Marcus
name as it appears in literature list: Marcus Er
foreign spelling in taxonomic list:
year of birth: 1893
year of death: 1968
research specialty: Entomology, Bryozoa, Oligochaeta, Gastropods and Turbellaria
notes/comments: From Eveline du Bois Reymond Marcus 1968 (citation)-p. 7-8 Ernst Marcus was born in Berlin. Associate Professor, Zoological Institute of the University of Berlin. "In 1935 Ernst Marcus was dismissed from the University due to the Nazi laws. By the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning Ltd. (Lord Beveridge) he was recommended for the Chair of Zoology at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, which he occupied from 1936 to 1963, when he had to retire at seventy years of age."

In Ute Deichmann's book (citation)- p. 22, facing expullsion from the fatherland, a letter by Marcus in June 1936 notes that "After growing up the son of a Prussian judge, allowed to serve at the front line four years in the Prussian Guard, decorated as a sergeant with the Iron Cross First Class, and having done all my work at Prussian departments....it is unworthy of me to beg for placement with foreign charitable institutions. If I ...am expelled from the fatherland and made into a homeless beggar, I will see this as the greatest injustice and the deepest insult that could be inflicted on me. This I have not deserved, if people acted in accordance with the Prussian principle 'suum cuique.'"

From Jünger Haffer's book on Ernst Mayr (citation)- p. 39, Ernst Mayr recalls his days as a student at the University of Berlin and lectures from Marcus. "In Berlin, I had the good fortune to take Karl Heider's last lecture course on Vermes. It was a superb analysis of structure, comparative anatomy and phylogeny of most of the lower invertebrates. The Big Course was given by Ernst Marcus. He was a delightful Berlin Jew, patriotic as any German, who owing to his conspicuous courage had received the Iron Cross First Class in the First World War. He was married to the granddaughter of Du Bois Reymond. His lectures and presentations were lots of fun because he always spiced his explanations with some typical Berlin witticism."
last update:2012-10-07 20:46:02

List publications of Marcus Er.

List turbellarian taxa described by Marcus (whose authority includes string "Marcus").

List collecting sites ascribed to Marcus (whose authority includes string "Marcus").

  date author title description link rank
details Dec 30, 2021 Wikipedia William Beveridge Biographical information on WIlliam Beveridge Web site[stable]
details 1998 Rieger RM 100 Years of Research on "Turbellaria".      
details 1968 Marcus EvDB-R Ernst Marcus. Memoriam. Biographical information and photo    
details 2008 Heinrich B The Snoring Bird. My Family's Journey Through a Century of Biology.      
details 2006 Zimmerman D The society for the protection of science and learning and the politicization of british science in the 1930s. Society's role in helping scientists, scholars and academics escape Nazi persecution.    
details 2007 Haffer J Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy: The Life and Science of Ernst Mayr 1904-2005      
details 1996 Deichmann U Biologists under Hitler quote from a Marcus letter.    
details 1995 Deichmann U Biologen unter Hitler. Porträt einer Wissenschaft im NS- Staat. quote from a Marcus letter.    
details 2021 Jasper PD, Froehlich EM, Carbayo-Baz FJ A study on the etymology of the scientific names given to planarians (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) by Ernest Marcus' school.