From Taxonomy to Phylogenetics - Life and Work of Willi Hennig

Biological Systematics has changed dramatically during the past 60 years from a handicraft or art to an accepted branch of science proper, due to the work of Willi Hennig, who was born in 1913. The scientific method of reconstructing phylogenetic relationships of organisms bases on Hennig's approach, the "Phylogenetic Systematics". The method is now so widely accepted and applied that it can firmly be regarded a paradigm, named 'cladistics'.