Ernst Marcus

Ernst Gustav Gotthelf Marcus (8 June 1893 – 30 June 1968) was a German zoologist, former occupant of the chair of zoology at the University of São Paulo from 1936 to 1963, and co-founder of the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo.^[1][2]

Life

Marcus was born in Berlin in a Jewish family, the son of Georg Marcus, a jurist. He studied at the Kaiser Friedrich Gymnasium and the Friedrich Wilhelm University.^[3]

In 1914, he published his first zoological work, but his studies were later delayed due to World War I, where he fought as a soldier, and his second work was published only in 1919. By this time, he was already a professor at the Friedrich Wilhelm University. As an assistant to Karl Heider, Marcus became interested in Developmental Mechanics.^[4]

He married Eveline Du Bois-Reymond, granddaughter of Emil Du Bois-Reymond, and together they published several zoological works.^[4]

With the rise of Nazism in Germany, Marcus was dismissed as an assistant to Heider in 1935 and moved to Brazil with his wife in 1936, where he started to teach zoology at the University of São Paulo, occupying the chair that was vacant by the death of Professor Ernst Bresslau.^[3] With his wife, he published 162 papers between 1936 and 1968, the first ones in Portuguese. Later works were published in English and focused on several invertebrate groups, such as flatworms, annelids, tardigrades, onychophorans, nemertines, phoronids, gastropods, and pycnogonids.^[4]

Marcus died in 1968, and his wife continued their research until her death.

Selected works

• Marcus, Ernst (1920). "Notizen über einiges Material mariner Bryozoen des Berliner Zoologischen Museums". Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin. 7: 255–284.
• Marcus, Ernst (1921). "Über die Verbreitung der Meeresbryozoen". Zoologischer Anzeiger. Leipzig. 53 (9–10): 205–221.
• Marcus, Ernst (1923). "Hydrostatik bei Meeresbryozoen". Verhandlungen der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft. Leipzig. 29: 39–41.
• Marcus, Ernst (1924). "Zur vergleichenden Embryologie der Bryozoen". Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin. 11 (1): 157–166.
• Marcus, Ernst (1925). "Zum Polymorphismus der Bryozoen". Verhandlungen der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft. Leipzig. 30: 152–159.
• Marcus, Ernst (1936). "Sobre alguns phenomenos da vida dos Bryozoarios Marinhos". Arquivos do Instituto Biológico, São Paulo. 7: 207–208.
• Marcus, Ernst (1945). "Sobre Catenulida Brasileiros". Boletim da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras da Universidade de São Paulo. Série Zoologia. 10: 3–133.
• Marcus, Ernst (1947–1952). "Turbellaria Brasileiros". Boletim da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras da Universidade de São Paulo. Série Zoologia. 12–17.

Species named in his honor

Several species have been named after Ernst Marcus, such as the land planarians Luteostriata ernesti and Imbira marcusi.

References