Ernst H. Haeckel German biologist and prolific proponent of Darwin and evolution. Haeckel was inspired by Darwin but Darwin did not always agree. Haeckel is famous for the beauty of his drawings of sea organisms, and is controversial for his embryological and human illustration which often appeared selectively inaccurate. Haeckel proposed that an embryo reveals the history of evolution as it develops, passing through stages corresponding to ancestral species. This evolutionary recapitulation or 'biogenetic theory', was based on the mantra 'ontology recapitulates phylogeny' and is now widely discredited in that form. Haeckel's racial views, though perhaps not exceptional for the time, were incorporated into his scientific work. This helped validate fascist German policies including war as a mechanism for selection between races (V. Kellogg 1918), social Darwinism and racial cleansing.