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 influenc ...

's, 1935

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single ...

for the discovery of the embryonic organizer,Mangold, Hilde (Proescholdt) by

Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie (born March 22, 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 Colle ...

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, ...

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, one of the first steps towards

cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical genomes, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction; this reproduction of an organism by itself without ...

. 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 (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

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 Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

. 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 of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. 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 pathogenic bacteria, bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the therapy ...

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 two-layered or three-layered embryo known as ...

grafted into a host embryo can induce the formation of an extra body axis, creating

conjoined twins Conjoined twins, popularly referred to as Siamese twins, are twins joined '' in utero''. It is a very rare phenomenon, estimated to occur in anywhere between one in 50,000 births to one in 200,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in south ...

. Crucially, by using two species of

newt A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

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 two-layered or three-layered embryo known as ...

References

External links

Explanation of the Spemann-Mangold experiment
from a

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

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