Leuckart split George Cuvier's Radiata into two phylum; Coelenterata and Echinodermata. He is also credited for the classification of Metazoa. His excellent descriptions of morphologic details gave credence to the idea that zoological evolution can be learned through its anatomical changes. Between 1877 and 1892, Leuckart developed a series of scientific wall charts; these charts have been used worldwide as teaching aids. Today the "Rudolf-Leuckart-Medaille" is an annual award for research in parasitology by the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Parasitologie (German Society of Parasitology).
A quote attributed to Rudolf Leckart:
It is not possible for man, as a thinking being, to close his mind to the knowledge that he is ruled by the same power as is the animal world. Like the despised worm he lives in dependence upon external commands, and like the worm he perishes, even when he has shaken the world through the power of his ideas