Martin Heinrich Rathke (August 25, 1793 – September 3, 1860) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 embryologist and anatomist.

Rathke was a professor of zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 and anatomy at 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...

 from 1835 to 1860. He studied marine organisms and the embryonic development of sex organs. He was the first to describe the gill slits and gill arches in the embryos of mammals and birds. He also first described in 1839 the embryonic structure

Embryology

Embryology is a science which is about the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage...

, now known as Rathke's pouch

Rathke's pouch

In embryogenesis, Rathke's pouch is a depression in the roof of the developing mouth in front of the buccopharyngeal membrane. It gives rise to the anterior pituitary , a part of the endocrine system.-Development:...

, from which the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland develops.