He studied zoology at the University of Jena, earning his doctorate in 1878. Afterwards he worked as an assistant of Ernst Haeckel in Jena and at the university of Kiel. In 1881 he emigrated to New Zealand, working at the museums in Dunedin, under Professor Parker, and Christchurch under Professor von Haast.
In August 1884 he laid to rest an old mystery about echidnas, proving they are oviparous not viviparous,[3] with a specimen sent to the museum by a naturalist on Kangaroo Island.[4] His work and the liberality with which he was treated attracted some criticism,[5] as did his bombastic self-promotion. He resigned his position in October 1884, after a series of disputes with the museum's management[6] but did not leave the colony.[7]
He served as zoologist with the 1885 Geographical Society of Australasia's expedition to the Fly River, Papua New Guinea.[8] In June 1886 he announced his imminent departure for Europe, and was invited by a large deputation of German settlers to represent them at an Allgemeiner Deutscher Kongress to be held in Berlin that September but declined, and left South Australia around July 1886 without fanfare.
Haacke believed that cells consist of individuals called gemmaria that operate as hereditary units. These consist of even smaller units known as gemmae. He believed these units to explain neo-Lamarckian inheritance. He was a proponent of orthogenesis. He held that from his theory of epimorphism evolution is a directed process tending towards perfection.[10]
He made contributions to Brehms Tierleben, a popular zoological compendium published in several editions, and with illustrator Wilhelm Kuhnert published Das Tierleben der Erde.[11][12] Other noteworthy written efforts include:
Die Schöpfung der Tierwelt (1893)
Gestaltung und Vererbung. Eine Entwickelungsmechanik der Organismen (1893)
Die Schöpfung of Menschen und seiner Ideal. Ein Versuch zur Versöhnung zwischen Religion und Wissenschaft (1895)
^"Our City Letter". Kapunda Herald. Vol. XX, no. 1699. South Australia. 21 October 1884. p. 3. Retrieved 6 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ abLevit, Georgy S; Olsson, Lennart. (2007). Evolution on Rails Mechanisms and Levels of Orthogenesis. In Volker Wissemann. Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology 11/2006. Universitätsverlag Göttingen. pp. 100-104.
"This article includes text based on a translation of an equivalent article at the French Wikipedia", listed as Allen G. Debus (ed.) (1968). World Who's Who in Science. . A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Scientists from Antiquity to the Present, Marquis Who's Who (Chicago): xvi + 1855 p.
Daum, Andreas. Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998, ISBN3-486-56337-8.