Centennial History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington: Volume 5, The Department of Embryology

Description

Founded in 1914, the Department of Embryology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington has made an unparalleled contribution to the biological understanding of embryos and their development. Originally much of the research was carried out through experimental embryology, but by the second half of the twentieth century, tissue and cell cultures were providing histological information about development, and biochemistry and molecular genetics have taken center stage. This final volume in a series of five histories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington provides a history of embryology and reproductive biology spanning a hundred years. It provides important insights into the evolution of both scientific ideas and the public perception of embryo research, concluding with a reflection on current debates.

"This volume successfully provides a good snapshot of the important and seminal role that Carnegie's Department of Embryology has played in developmental biology, especially during the first seven decades of the twentieth century...There is good material in the volume that should make it valuable to historians of American science and to scholars with an interest in the history of developmental biology." Keith R. Benson, University of British Columbia, Journal of the History of Biology