Hermann Fol

Hermann Fol (23 July 1845, Saint-Mandé – March 1892) was a Swiss zoologist and has been considered a pioneer of embryology. He studied under Édouard Claparède and Ernst Haeckel and took a special interest in the fertilization and embryology of echinoderms. He also innovated scientific devices, examined the safety of drinking water and was interested in rabies vaccinations. He was involved in establishing a marine biology laboratory at Villefranche-sur-Me and vanished at sea aboard a small yacht, the Aster, which left on 13 March from Le Havre and he was last known living on 17th March. The boat was later discovered off the coast of west Africa with nobody aboard.