Adolph Wilhelm Otto
German anatomist and university teacher (1786-1845)
Adolph Wilhelm Otto (3 August 1786 – 14 January 1845) was a German anatomist who was a native of Greifswald.
In 1808 he earned his medical doctorate at the University of Greifswald, and subsequently worked as a prosector and physician in Carl August Wilhelm Berends' clinic at the University of Frankfurt an der Oder. Later, he furthered his education on a scientific journey through Germany, the Netherlands and France, where he studied comparative anatomy with Georges Cuvier (1769-1832). In 1813 he became a professor of anatomy and director of the anatomical museum at the University of Breslau.
Otto specialized in the field of teratology, and performed extensive research involving the causes, development and classification of congenital malformations in plants and animals. In 1841 he published a popular atlas of teratology titled Monstrorum sexcentorum descriptio anatomica (600 Anatomic Descriptions of Monsters). He contributed articles to several journals and was a collaborator to Karl Gustav Carus' Erläuterungstafeln zur vergleichenden Anatomie. He also wrote "Conspectus animalium quorundam maritimorum" (Inaug. dissert, Vratislaviae : 1-20) and many other scientific papers in which he described marine animals. He is honoured in the gastropod name Calliotropis ottoi (Philippi 1844).
The public source identifies “Adolph Wilhelm Otto” as german anatomist and university teacher (1786-1845). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Adolph, Wilhelm and Otto.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Adolph Wilhelm Otto”, the useful work is to connect “german anatomist and university teacher (1786-1845)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 18, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q98531. VIAF identifies the subject as 13077935. The Library of Congress control number is nr89008255. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1786, 1845, 1808 and 1769.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Adolph Wilhelm Otto”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Adolph Wilhelm Otto primary sources, Adolph Wilhelm Otto archive and Adolph research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Adolph Wilhelm Otto”?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Adolph Wilhelm Otto” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.