Edwin Hennig was one of five children of a merchant who died when Hennig was 10 years old. Starting in 1902, Hennig studied natural sciences, anthropology, and philosophy at the
University of Freiburg in
Freiburg im Breisgau,
Baden-Württemberg,
Germany where earned a doctorate in 1906 with
Otto Jaekel. During this time Hennig significantly contributed to research on the extinct
genus Gyrodus. Afterwards, he was an assistant to
Wilhelm von Branca at
Berlin's
Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, where he attained his
habilitation and became a private lecturer. During World War I, he was a military geologist until 1917 where he became a professor at the
University of Tübingen and later an academic
rector and director of the geological
paleontology institute. Hennig later joined the
National Socialist German Workers' Party in 1937. In 1945, he was relieved of office and submitted to
denazification. Hennig retired in 1951. Edwin Hennig is well known for joining expeditions with
Werner Janensch to the
Tendaguru Beds in what is now
Tanzania,
East Africa. He is also known for describing discoveries of
Australopithecus afarensis from East Africa, collected by
Ludwig Kohl-Larsen. Much like
Othenio Abel, Hennig was a supporter of
orthogenesis theories of evolution as was his assistant,
Karl Beurlen. ==Publications ==