Ernst-Haeckel-Haus

'Villa Medusa' is the name zoologist Ernst Haeckel gave to his two-storey home located near his workplace at the zoological institute of the FSU. The name was inspired by Haeckel's enthusiasm for jellyfish (medusae). Haeckel, a university professor and Germany's most significant advocate of Darwin's theory of evolution, determined during his lifetime already that the villa should become a museum. Today, the Ernst Haeckel Museum forms part of the University's Institute for the History of Medicine, Sciences and Technology. The extensive collections are used intensively for both, teaching and research.Manuscripts, letters, drawings, paintings, photographs, and publications bear witness to Haeckel's life and work. In particular his study, which has been preserved as it was during Haeckel's lifetime, enables visitors to experience the atmosphere of scientific research around 1900.