Richard Woltereck

Richard Woltereck
Born(1877-04-06)6 April 1877
Hanover, German Empire
Died23 February 1944(1944-02-23) (aged 66)
Seeon, Nazi Germany
NationalityGerman
EducationUniversity of Freiburg
Known forReaction norm
AwardsMember of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
Scientific career
FieldsZoology
InstitutionsUniversity of Leipzig
Thesis Zur Bildung und Entwicklung des Ostrakoden-Eies: kerngeschichtliche und biologische Studien an parthenogenetischen Cypriden  (1898)
Academic advisorsAugust Weismann

Richard Woltereck (6 April 1877 – 23 February 1944) was a German zoologist best known for developing the concept of reaction norm (German: Reaktionsnorm). He also conducted some of the first research that provided evidence for the process of cytoplasmic inheritance.[1] He proposed the concept in a 1909 paper that he presented to the German Zoological Society, based on his own research on the Daphnia water flea.[2][3] According to historian Raphael Falk, the concept of the reaction norm was later revived by Richard Lewontin.[4]

  1. ^ Peirson, B.R. Erick (2012-05-13). "Richard Woltereck (1877-1944)". The Embryo Project Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  2. ^ Pierson, B.R. Erick (2012-09-06). "Richard Woltereck's Concept of Reaktionsnorm". The Embryo Project Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  3. ^ Falk, Raphael (2001). "Can the Norm of Reaction Save the Gene Concept?". Thinking about Evolution: Historical, Philosophical, and Political Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. p. 119. ISBN 9780521620703.
  4. ^ Ludwig, Ryan R. (2014-01-01). "Formation and Variation: Woltereck's Concept of Reaktionsnorm and the Potentials of Environment". Thresholds. 42: 134–147. doi:10.1162/thld_a_00084. ISSN 1091-711X. S2CID 57564347.