born Feb. 29, 1792, Piep, Est., Russian Empire
died Nov. 28, 1876, Dorpat, Est.
Prussian-born Estonian embryologist.
Studying chick development with Christian Pander (1794–1865), Baer expanded Pander's concept of germ layer formation to all vertebrates, thereby laying the foundation for comparative embryology. He emphasized that embryos of one species could resemble embryos (but not adults) of another and that the younger the embryo, the greater the resemblance, a concept in line with his belief that development proceeds from simple to complex, from like to different. He also discovered the mammalian ovum. His On the Development of Animals (2 vol., 1828–37) surveyed all existing knowledge on vertebrate development and established embryology as a distinct subject of research.