Karl Rabl

Born May 2, 1853, in Wels, Upper Austria; died Dec. 24, 1917, in Leipzig. Austrian embryologist, cytologist, and anatomist.

Rabl was educated at the universities of Vienna, Leipzig, and Jena. He was a professor at the universities of Vienna (from 1885), Prague (from 1886), and Leipzig (from 1904). His chief works dealt with the origin and development of the mesoderm and of the extremities and metameres of the head in vertebrates. He studied the development of the crystalline lens and the vitreous body of the eye, the structure of the heart in amphibians, and the urogenital system of sharks. He also established the polarity of cell nuclei. Together with T. Boveri, Rabl advanced the theory of the individuality of chromosomes that was later used to substantiate the chromosomal theory of heredity.