Dr. Hermann Klaatsch was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

, anatomist

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

, physical anthropologist

Biological anthropology

Biological anthropology is that branch of anthropology that studies the physical development of the human species. It plays an important part in paleoanthropology and in forensic anthropology...

, evolutionist

Evolutionism

Evolutionism refers to the biological concept of evolution, specifically to a widely held 19th century belief that organisms are intrinsically bound to increase in complexity. The belief was extended to include cultural evolution and social evolution...

, and professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at the University of Heidelberg (from 1890) and at the University of Breslau (Wrocław) until 1916.

Klaatsch was a Professor of Anatomy and studied evolutionary theory, being mentioned in some fingerprint

Fingerprint

A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...

 books for his early studies on friction skin

Fingerprint

A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...

 development. He researched the volar pads associated with the epidermal patterns, grouping the volar pads of humans and primate

Primate

A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...

s together. Subsequent to Arthur Kollmann

Arthur Kollmann

Arthur Kollmann was a German medical researcher from Hamburg who studied fingerprint characteristics, of friction ridges and volar pads....

, Klaatsch also gave names to the various volar pads in 1888.

Klaatsch was one of the most important researchers in the field of physical anthropology from the late 1890s to the time of his death. He made many discoveries and advocated separating anthropology from religion.

Life and work

Klaatsch was born in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. His father was a physician, and Hermann showed an interest in collecting specimens and in the natural sciences while a boy. He graduated from Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

 in 1881 and went to the University of Heidelberg to study medicine, and biology. He later went on to study at the University of Berlin

Humboldt University of Berlin

The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...

 and at the biological station of Villefranche

Villefranche-sur-Mer

Villefranche-sur-Mer is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera.-Geography:...

.

Klaatsch began working at the Rudolf Virchow

Rudolf Virchow

Rudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...

 laboratory and also at the Augusta hospital. In 1885, he became scientific assistant, there, at the anatomical institute, under Waldeyer, and received a degree of doctor of medicine (M.D.

Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

).

In 1888, Klaatsch received a personal invitation to the University of Heidelberg from the old college friend that first interested him in anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

. In 1890 Klaatsch began teaching there, and in 1895 he was promoted to professor extraordinarius.

Between 1904 and 1907, Klaatsch traveled into Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

 to study the native peoples. The culture and the bone structures of the Aborigines

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 of Australia fascinated Klaatsch, and he later published papers on his findings.

Time in Australia

In Queensland, his principal contact was Walter Roth; after spending some time examining Roth’s private collections in Brisbane, in June 1904 Klaatsch travelled north to Newellton, near Cairns, where he stayed as the guest of F.E. Clotten of the Lancelot Tin Mining Company. Near here he was shown Aboriginal camp sites in rockshelters, first saw Aboriginal rock art, and collected stone tools. Later he spent time on Melville Island.

Klaatsch has a notorious connection with North Queensland for having returned to the Upper Russell River at the end of 1904 where he acquired the mummified body of the 'King of Bellenden Ker', which he sent to Berlin.

Return to Breslau

When he returned from his journey, Klaatsch began teaching anatomy and anthropology at the University of Breslau. In 1912 he developed a course in topographic anatomy. During his time at Breslau, Oetteking described Klaatsch's other accomplishments: "Besides his professorship at the University, Klatsch held several honorary offices, academic and governmental, and his government honored him by bestowing upon him several orders."

Klaatsch was an avid member of the yearly congress of anthropologists and anatomists, and he spoke at nearly every meeting.

Klaatsch also wrote many published papers, all published in his native German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

. The most important papers he wrote compared similarities of the Aborigines and the neandertaloids

Neanderthal

The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...

 bone structures. He also wrote about the skeletal remains in southern France in 1913.

Klaatsch's most important contribution was very controversial. According to Oetteking, "Klaatsch was one of the first to advocate energetically a clear division of religion and science." Oetteking added, "It may be difficult for us… to realize that a conception of anthropology raising it to the level of an academic science dates back not even a generation (in 1916), and is due to spirits of Klaatsch's type."

Klaatsch changed the way anthropology was taught. His life revolved around anatomy and anthropology, and he never had a family. He made many important discoveries and changed the way people looked at anthropology.

A long-term professor of anatomy and physical anthropology, Hermann Klaatsch died unexpectedy in Eisenach

Eisenach

Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...

in 1916. His major work was assembled posthumously by his colleagues.