Gudrun Marie Ruud (14 April 1882 – 31 December 1958) was a Norwegian zoologist and educator. She is remembered for her pioneering embryological research based on experimentation with salamanders.

Early life

Born in Christiania, Ruud was the youngest daughter of a prosperous merchant, I.A. Ruud. She enjoyed a pleasant childhood in a large property with geese and poultry on the grounds. From an early age, she was attracted by the birds, animals and plants she encountered during her holidays in Østre Aker, just outside the capital. She first attended a teacher training establishment before embarking on science studies at the Royal Frederick University, graduating in 1913. In order to support the cost of her studies, from 1910 she worked as an assistant at the Zoological Laboratory.

Career

Thanks to her work in the laboratory, she soon became

Kristine Bonnevie Kristine Elisabeth Heuch Bonnevie (8 October 1872 – 30 August 1948) was a Norwegian biologist, Norway's first female professor, women's rights activist and politician for the Free-minded Liberal Party. Her fields of research were cytology, genet ...

's most important collaborator, a position she maintained for several years. In 1916, still at the laboratory, she was promoted to the rank of

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

, a title she held throughout her professional life until her retirement in 1948. Ruud's main area of research was experimental embryology centred on how the various cells develop in an embryo. From 1916 to 1920, she travelled to Berlin on several occasions to work with Hans Spemann at the

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Biologie The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...

. In 1925, she went to the United States where she worked with Ross G. Harrison of Yale University carrying out experimental work on the axolotl or Mexican salamander. On returning to Oslo two years later, she discovered how an arm could grow out of an unexpected place on the body of the axolotl. Teaching formed an important part of Ruud's activities at the laboratory. In addition to assisting Bonnevie with her zoology course which covered anatomy, embryology and cytology, Ruud was responsible for a one-year practical course and for lectures on histology. She also introduced students to

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...

. Ruud played an active part at the university's biological station in Drøbak where she helped with practical courses in zoology based on animal life in the fjord. In 1932, Ruud became a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. She died in her sleep on 31 December 1958.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruud, Gudrun 1882 births 1958 deaths Scientists from Oslo 20th-century Norwegian zoologists University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters 20th-century Norwegian women scientists