Embryology History

Introduction

These notes are intended to give some historic background to Embryology. Historically, say pre-20th century, Embryology was not easily separated from Medicine, Anatomy and Physiology and other biological sciences. I have also divided, for brevity, into pre-20th century, pre-molecular (lets call it 70's) and the current molecular embryology.

Category:Historic Embryology

Long Ago

19th Century

1880 - image excerpts from a historic study of German embryologist Wilhelm His (1831-1904) Anatomie menschlicher Embryonen (1880).

Leydig cells named after german zoologist Franz von Leydig (1821 - 1908). (Franz von Leydig)

Evolution Theories | Evolution Darwin

1824 - Rolando cut chemically hardened (fixed) pieces of brain tissues into thin sections for microscopical examination

1889 - Camille Golgi discovered a method of silver staining hardened brain tissues

Early 20th Century

1914 - image excerpts from a historic study of The Anatomy of a 17.8 mm Human Embryo by Thyng, FW 1914

1917 - "On Growth and Form" D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1860-1948) publishes this book on the application of mathematics to growth in nature.

1918 - links to images from the historic textbook Anatomy of the Human Body by Henry Gray

1935 - Embryology History - Hans Spemann Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Development in the early 20th century can also be seen in some Historic Movies 1920-1960.

Late 20th Century

Much of the modern history of Medicine/Embryology is documented in the Nobel Prizes for Medicine. There are either text extracts included or links to external texts or references in these notes. Some key women in development Virginia Apgar and Nicole Le Douarin.

1951 - Dr Viktor Hamburger and H L Hamilton publish "A series of normal stages in the development of the chick embryo."

1953 - Apgar test - historic neonatal test designed by Dr Virginia Apgar.

1965 - Neural Crest Research Nicole Le Douarin.

1978 - First IVF baby born

1996 - "Dolly the sheep" First adult somatic cell cloning using the process of nuclear transfer.

Nobel Prizes

Much of the modern history of Medicine/Embryology is documented in the Nobel Prizes for Medicine. Remember that these award dates reflect findings that have proven to be scientific key breakthroughs from earlier dates.

1986 discoveries of growth factors
1995 genetic control of early embryonic development

21st Century

2000 - Human Genome Complete

2001 talk given by Robert Winston "Engineering Reproduction: Will We Still Be Human At The End of the 21st Century".

Nobel Prizes

Much of the modern history of Medicine/Embryology is documented in the Nobel Prizes for Medicine. Remember that these award dates reflect findings that have proven to be scientific key breakthroughs from earlier dates.

2002 cell cycle
2002 cell death
2007 embryonic stem cells

2009 - Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) Stem Cells Embryology Blog 2009

Also see other History of Medicine Resources, particularly Dr. Ian Carr's brief paper on The History of Childbirth, and Neonatology on the Web has a long list of historic Classic Papers in Neonatal Medicine.

People in Embryology History

Embryology Textbooks

Most Textbooks include Embryology Historic issues in the preface, opening chapter or within each chapter as a special section or highlighted text box. Therefore no specific chapter or page reference is shown for the texts below.

Human Embryology (2nd ed.) Larson
The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology (6th ed.) Moore and Persaud
Before we Are Born (5th ed.) Moore and Persaud
Essentials of Human Embryology Larson
Fitzgerald

History of Science

Book - A History of Science by Henry Smith Williams

Nobel awards in Medicine

The Nobel Prize Homepage has a searchable database and an annual table of awards.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002 - discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death' Summary: "The human body consists of hundreds of cell types, all originating from the fertilized egg. During the embryonic and foetal periods, the number of cells increase dramatically. The cells mature and become specialized to form the various tissues and organs of the body. Large numbers of cells are formed also in the adult body. In parallel with this generation of new cells, cell death is a normal process, both in the foetus and adult, to maintain the appropriate number of cells in the tissues. This delicate, controlled elimination of cells is called programmed cell death."
The discovery of Hox genes and other genes related to body pattern formation. The fly Antennapedia mutant during development the embryo incorrectly positions two legs (pedia) where antenna should have been positioned. The discovery of this mutant in opened up the field of developmental genes and this field has recently (1995) been rewarded with a Nobel prize in Medicine. See also [../OtherEmb/Fly.htm#antennapedia Fly Development notes]
Award Details: "for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development"
- LEWIS, EDWARD B., U.S.A., California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A., * 1918
- N√úSSLEIN-VOLHARD, CHRISTIANE, Germany, Max-Planck-Institut f√ºr Entwicklungsbiologie, T√ºbingen, Germany, * 1942
- WIESCHAUS, ERIC F., U.S.A., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, U.S.A., * 1947

References

A HISTORY OF SCIENCE by Henry Smith Williams
THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES by Charles Darwin
Anatomy of the Human Body by Henry Gray‎‎

Articles

Search Pubmed

August 2010 "Embryology history" All (5271) Review (756) Free Full Text (799)

Search Pubmed: Embryology history

External Links

Hippocrates on the Web
Faculty of Medicine of the University of Manitoba. Histories of Medicine on the web by Manitoba Authors | DYING TO HAVE A BABY - THE HISTORY OF CHILDBIRTH by Dr. Ian Carr, Professor of Pathology
Hannah Chair, History of Medicine, Queen's University
Karolinska Institute- History of Biomedicine
MEDICAL HISTORY ON THE INTERNET
Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine
WWW Virtual Library - History of Medicine
Antique Medical Instruments- Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Online Microscopes
Neonatology on the Web | Classic Papers in Neonatal Medicine- (A large list of historic texts available online) | An Essay upon Nursing and the Management of Children, from their Birth to Three Years of Age, Third Edition, by William Cadogan, 1749.

Glossary Links

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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, May 5) Embryology Embryology History. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Embryology_History

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