He was a quirky one, Earnst Haeckel. He did great work in science. He promoted Darwin’s work in Germany, named thousands of species, and inspired an art movement; but he also came up with some no-so-great thoughts, such as different languages evolved among different species of humans. Yes, you read that right. Haeckel was a promoter of scientific racism.
Herr Haeckel believed that there were ten human species, and the white man was at the top of the pecking order. The Nazis a few years later took this idea and ran with it.
Haeckel also believed that humans originated from India, and not Africa. Like I said, he was a quirky one; but he wasn’t alone in believing that humans originated in Asia—most anthropologists back then preferred Asia to Africa as the place of origin of humans.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 