Ambrosius Hubrecht

Ambrosius Arnold Willem Hubrecht (1853 - 1915) was a Dutch zoölogist. He was born in Rotterdam, was educated at the universities of Utrecht, Leyden, Erlangen, and Heidelberg, was Selenka's assistant in zoölogy at Erlangen in 1874, in 1875-82 was in the Leyden Zoölogical Museum, and in 1882 became professor at Utrecht. In 1890-91 he traveled in Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, where he made embryological studies, notably on the tarsier. He visited the United States in 1896 and 1907. Honorary degrees were conferred on him by Princeton, St. Andrews, Dublin, Glasgow, and Giessen. His most important work was in embryology and placentation of the mammals. In papers in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopial Science in 1883 and 1887 he put forth the theory — also held by Sir E. Ray Lankester — that the vertebrates originated in a Nemertine form, basing this on his discovery in the Nemertines of a continuous nerve sheath. The Descent of the Primates (1897) is the title under which were published his lectures at the sesquicentennial celebration at Princeton.

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• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.