Hilde Mangold (20 October 1898 – 4 September 1924) (née Proescholdt) was a German

embryologist Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

who was best known for her 1923 dissertation which was the foundation for her mentor,

Hans Spemann Hans Spemann (; 27 June 1869 – 9 September 1941) was a German embryologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1935 for his student Hilde Mangold's discovery of the effect now known as embryonic induction, an influence, e ...

's, 1935

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the embryonic organizer,Mangold, Hilde (Proescholdt) by

Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie (born 1936) is an American historian of science known especially for her work on the history of women in science. She taught at Oklahoma Baptist University before becoming curator of the History of Science Collections and ...

and

Joy Dorothy Harvey Joy Dorothy Harvey (born 1934) is an American historian of science. Life Harvey gained a PhD from Harvard University in 1983. She has been an associate editor of the Darwin Correspondence Project, and written a biography of Clémence Royer, Dar ...

in ''The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science''. "one of the very few doctoral theses in biology that have directly resulted in the awarding of a Nobel Prize".''Developmental Biology''. 10th ed. by Scott F. Gilbert. The general effect she demonstrated is known as embryonic induction, that is, the capacity of some cells to direct the developmental trajectory of other cells. Induction remains a fundamental concept and area of ongoing research in the field.

Biography

Hilde Proescholdt was born in Gotha, Thuringia, a province in central-eastern Germany on October 20, 1898. She was the middle daughter of soap factory owner Ernest Proescholdt and his wife Gertrude. She attended the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

in Germany for two semesters in 1918 and 1919 and then transferred to the University of Frankfurt in Germany where she also spent two semesters. It was here that she saw a lecture by the renowned embryologist

on experimental embryology. This lecture inspired her to pursue her education in this field. After Frankfurt, she attended the Zoological Institute in Freiburg. It was here that she met and married her husband, , who was Spemann’s chief assistant (and, incidentally, a supporter of the Nazi Party). Under Spemann's direction, she completed her 1923 dissertation, entitled “Über Induktion von Embryonalanlagen durch Implantation artfremder Organisatoren”, or “Induction of Embryonic Primordia by Implantation of Organizers from a Different Species.” After earning her PhD in zoology, Hilde moved with her husband and infant son, Christian, to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Shortly after the move, Hilde died from severe burns as a result of a gas heater explosion in her Berlin home. She never lived to see the publication of her thesis results. Her son died in World War II.Hilde Proescholdt Mangold by Veronica Reardon Mondrinos in ''Women in the Biological Sciences'', page 304.

Key experiments

Mangold performed very delicate transplantation experiments with embryos (a feat even more impressive before the discovery of

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...

to prevent infection after surgery). She demonstrated that tissue from the dorsal lip of the

blastopore Gastrulation is the stage in the early embryonic development of most animals, during which the blastula (a single-layered hollow sphere of cells), or in mammals the blastocyst is reorganized into a multilayered structure known as the gastrula. Be ...

grafted into a host embryo can induce the formation of an extra body axis, creating conjoined twins. Crucially, by using two species of newt with different skin colors for host and donor, she showed that the amphibian organizer did not form the extra axis by itself, but recruited host tissue to form the twin (although the full implications of this result were not understood until a year after her death).Spemann, H. and Mangold, H. (1924). "Über Induktion von Embryonanlagen durch Implantation artfremder Organisatoren". ''Roux' Arch. f. Entw. mech''. 100: 599-638. This was the basis of the discovery of the "organizer", which is responsible for

gastrulation Gastrulation is the stage in the early embryonic development of most animals, during which the blastula (a single-layered hollow sphere of cells), or in mammals the blastocyst is reorganized into a multilayered structure known as the gastrula. Be ...

References

External links

Explanation of the Spemann-Mangold experiment
from a

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

Reviews article {{DEFAULTSORT:Mangold, Hilde 1898 births 1924 deaths 20th-century German biologists 20th-century German women scientists German embryologists German women biologists accidental deaths in Germany University of Jena alumni Goethe University Frankfurt alumni People from Gotha (town)

Biography

Key experiments

See also

References

External links