Adolph von La Valette-St. George

Adolph von La Valette-St. George (14 November 1831 in Schloss Auel – 29 November 1910 in Bonn) was a German zoologist and anatomist, known for his research in developmental biology.

Adolph von La Valette-St. George

He studied at the universities of Berlin, Munich and Würzburg, where he was a student of Albert von Kölliker. In 1855 he obtained his PhD with the thesis "Symbolae ad Trematodum evolutionis historiam",^[1] then in 1857 received his medical doctorate. In 1858 he qualified as a lecturer at the University of Bonn, where in 1862 he became an associate professor.^[2] In 1875, he was named a full professor and successor to Max Schultze as director of the anatomical institute at Bonn.^[3]

He is credited with coining the terms spermatocyte (1876), spermatogonium (1876) and spermatid (1886).^[4] Some sources mention La Valette-St. George as the first to observe what would later be known as the Golgi apparatus (1865, 1867), a structure that he reportedly described in the sexual cells of snails.^[5][6][7]

Published works

With Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz (from 1874) and Oscar Hertwig (from 1889), he was co-editor of the journal "Archiv für mikroskopische Anatomie".^[8][2] The following are a list of some of his noted scientific works:

• Entwicklung der Trematoden, 1859 – Development of trematodes.
• Studien über die Entwicklung der Amphipoden, 1860 – Studies on the development of amphipods.
• Ueber die Entwicklung der Isopoden, 1864 – On the development of isopods.
• Ueber eine neue Art amöboider Zellen, 1865 – On a new kind of amoeboid cell.
• Ueber die Genese der Samenkörper, 1865 – On the genesis of spermatic bodies.
• Ueber den Keimfleck und die Deutung der Eitheile, 1866 – On the germinal spot and the construction of egg components.
• Entwicklung der Samenkörper beim Frosch, 1868 – Development of the spermatic bodies in frogs.
• Ueber einen neuen Fischbrutapparat, 1882 – On a new fish brooder.
• Zelltheilung und Samenbildung bei Forficula auricularia, 1887 – Cell division and spermatogenesis of Forficula auricularia.
• Ueber innere Zwitterbildung beim Flusskrebs, 1892 – On inner hermaphroditism in crayfish.
• Zwitterbildung beim kleinen Wassermolch, 1895 – Hermaphroditism in small newts.
• Zur Samen- und Eibildung beim Seidenspinner (Bombyx mori), 1897 – Sperm and egg formation in silkworms (Bombyx mori).
• Die Spermatogenese bei den Säugethieren und dem Menschen, 1898 – Spermatogenesis of quadrupeds and humans.^[2]