Author: Erin Wiehn

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aQfDmFdKjfQDIz8Tt9mRIDGSmCNAHmV_Ft3XEwZLHJY/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PlbK3uRCQYJ_Ma5aMlVuamVur2yeEZmWYS4k8o1jeyE/edit?usp=sharing

After watching the film, I have a deeper appreciation and understanding of the deep history that revolves around the Radiolarian. The Radiolarian is a one celled organism that is found at the bottom of the sea. It has a skeletal and glace-like structure: made up of shells that form from absorbing silica from the ocean’s water. Out of the more than 15,000 known species of radiolarians, 5000 were discovered by Ernest Haeckel. Haeckel was a Biologist and artist who spent his life trying to merge the gap between art and science. His work specifically on the aspect of “art forms in nature” is what interested me most. This is because of his intricate use of patterns and structures that he defined as evolutionary art. Specifically, he grew extremely fond of the Radiolarian as he believed this creature embodied the unity he’d been searching for. He continued to dedicate his life to the research and discovery of Radiolarians for ten years. Through his research, he developed ideas and theories of evolution. Later he was recognized as a major figure in the history of evolutionary theory. After his intense research, he began to travel around the world to talk about his findings and his theories on evolution. With this sharing of ideas came a lot of criticism and backlash and his work became heavily controversial. The one I found to be the most interesting were the comments to do with his theory on race. In Haeckel’s theory, he defined phylogeny (the development of an organism) and ontogeny (the evolution of an organism) as one in the same. He created a racial anthropology to explain how different people evolved from different organisms, therefore creating a racial hierarchy. Although there was less integration of cultures worldwide in this time period, his thought process was inherently racist and even was used to reinforce the German thought process in World War Two. I also found it interesting that his peer Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Miklucho-Maclay, whom he studied with closely for many years, had a completely different view on race and evolution. Maclay’s in fact is viewed as very progressive for the time. Overall, the history of the Radiolarian and those who studied it was way more interesting than I thought it would be. It affects more aspects of history than I expected it too and is a really crucial part of a lot of different scientific histories.