Karl von Baer

Karl von Baer was a 19th-century scientist who made important contributions to biology. He is best known for discovering and describing the ovum, or egg cell, in mammals, which helped us understand reproduction. Von Baer also studied embryology, the development of embryos, and established that embryos of different species share common features early on, highlighting the idea of evolutionary relationships. His work laid the foundation for understanding how animals develop from fertilized eggs and contributed significantly to evolutionary biology and developmental science.