Ludwig Heinrich Philipp Döderlein

Ludwig Heinrich Philipp Döderlein (3 March 1855 – 23 April 1936) was a German zoologist. He specialized in echinoderms, particularly sea stars, sea urchins, and crinoids. He was one of the first European zoologists to have the opportunity to do research work in Japan from 1879 to 1881. Today, he is considered one of the most important pioneers of marine biological research in Japan.

He was the director and curator of the Musée zoologique de la ville de Strasbourg from 1882 to 1919. He headed the Zoologische Staatssammlung München from 1923 to 1927 and was Professor of Zoology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich).

Biography Ludwig Döderlein was born in Bad Bergzabern, then Kingdom of Bavaria, on March 3, 1855. He went to school in Bayreuth from 1864 to 1873. From 1873 to 1875 he studied natural sciences in the University of Erlangen, where he also worked as an assistant to the Zoologist Emil Selenka in the summer of 1875. From 1875 to 1876 he took two semesters at LMU Munich.

After graduating, Döderlein moved to the University of Straßburg. There he completed his Doctorate of Philosophy in Mathematics and Natural Sciences on June 26, 1877. From 1876 to 1878 he worked for four semesters in the zoology department of the University of Straßburg as an assistant to the German zoologist and phycologist Eduard Oscar Schmidt.

The prospects for an academic career were poor, so for a time, he worked as a schoolteacher in the Alsatian town of Mulhouse. There he met and befriended the Japanese student Kenji Oosawa (1852–1927), who was studying medicine and physiology at the University of Strasbourg. Oosawa arranged for Döderlein to be invited to Japan to work as a Professor of Natural History in the Faculty of Medicine of the newly established University of Tokyo. Döderlein accepted gratefully. After his return, Döderlein became the director and curator of Musée zoologique de la ville de Strasbourg between 1882 and 1919. There he devoted much of his life cataloging its rich collection of marine fauna from the Far East. During his tenure, he hired specialists like Johannes Thiele, Franz Eilhard Schulze, and Arnold Edward Ortmann to study his Japanese collection. He also taught zoology at the University of Strasbourg during this period.

Döderlein is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Asian snake, Calamaria doederleini and in the fish genus Doederleinia.