Ernst Wilhelm Theodor Gaupp (July 13, 1865 - November 23, 1916) was a German anatomist from Beuthen in Upper Silesia

Upper Silesia

Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...

 (today Bytom, Poland). He studied natural sciences and medicine in Jena

Jena

Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...

, Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

 and Breslau, where he received his doctorate in 1889. Afterwards he worked as an anatomist in Freiburg im Breisgau, Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

 and Breslau (1915).

Gaupp is best remembered for his research involving the morphological development of the cranium in vertebrate

Vertebrate

Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...

s. He is credited for establishing the basis and methodology for modern investigations regarding the morphology

Morphology (biology)

In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....

 and morphogenesis

Morphogenesis

Morphogenesis , is the biological process that causes an organism to develop its shape...

 of crania. He was also co-architect of the Reichert–Gaupp theory concerning the origin of mammalian ossicles

Ossicles

The ossicles are the three smallest bones in the human body. They are contained within the middle ear space and serve to transmit sounds from the air to the fluid-filled labyrinth . The absence of the auditory ossicles would constitute a moderate-to-severe hearing loss...

 of the ear

Ear

The ear is the organ that detects sound. It not only receives sound, but also aids in balance and body position. The ear is part of the auditory system....

.

Selected writings

• Zur Kenntnis des Primordial-Craniums der Amphibien und Reptilien. (Regarding the primordial craniums of the amphibians and reptiles) In: Verh. Anat. Ges. 5: 114–120, 1891.
• Alte Probleme und neuere Arbeiten ueber den Wirbeltierschaedel (Old problems and new research concerning the vertebrate cranium). In: Erg. Anat. Entw. 10: 847–1001, 1900.
• Die Reichertsche Theorie, Hammer-, Amboss- und Kieferfrage. (The Reichert theory, hammer-, anvil- and jaw-question) In: Arch. Anat. Suppl. 1912: 1–416