Abstract

Adolf Portmann was a zoologist, and an expert in morphology, studying embryonal, young animal and human developmental stages. In the era of biology he represented, the main focus was on morphology and physiology. In his time – in the middle of the twentieth century – every student at German-speaking universities had, in one or more semesters, to learn independently about all main animal types – through careful observation and using dissection. In plant science, the requirements were about the same. The organization of the studies was usually determined by a single full professor in the specific field; Portmann was also one of these single full professor cases. If this mentor was mainly focused on physiology, then this discipline was more widely discussed; however, morphology represented the first and fundamental base of the studies.