Defender of the evolution theory promoted by his contemporary Charles Darwin, the German physicist and physiologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) is one of the key scientific researchers in the field of zoology. Haeckel coined the term ‘ecology’ to study the relationship between the environment and the lasting changes in species, among Haeckel’s most valuable contributions are his studies of invertebrates – medusas, radiolariums, siphonphorae and sponges. Published in 1904, Kunstformen der Natur combines science and art in a volume that gathers one hundred illustrations of species, whose rigor and symmetry had a great influence on artists and designers in the early 20th century.

Images in this feature are part of Ernst Haeckel’s book Kunstformen der Natur [Art Forms in Nature] and they are courtesy of Kurt Stüber, from Max Planck Institute for Phytogenic Research.[+]