S3.19 Making Babies and Getting Organised: Celebrating Hilde Mangold and Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch
Kat: Hello, and welcome to Genetics Unzipped - the Genetics Society podcast, with me, Dr Kat Arney. In this episode we’re going back to the very beginning, telling the stories of the midwives of the field of developmental genetics, two talented researchers whose work helped to reveal the secrets of life in its very earliest stages: Hilde Mangold and Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch.
The field of genetics began to emerge with the rediscovery of Mendel's laws of inheritance around the turn of the 20th century, with the founding of The Genetics Society by William Bateson and Edith Rebecca Saunders following in 1919.
But around the same time, another new field of biology was emerging: embryology. From the 1880s, scientists began asking how organisms developed - life unfolding from a single cell to many, with cells dividing, dying and specialising from one stage to the next. Or, to put it less scientifically, how are babies made?
In the early 1900s, embryology was considered a completely separate field from heredity or genetics. But over the next century, scientists would reveal the interplay between the two, and the exquisite links between genetics and development. The new field of developmental genetics was born, and its midwives included several remarkable women, two of whom we’re going to take a closer look at today: Hilde Mangold and Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch.
The tale of developmental genetics is a thrilling one, with everything you need for a good story. There’s politics, drama, upheaval, prejudice, and even a suspicious death. So hold on tight, this is a good one.
The organiser: Hilde Mangold
Hilde Mangold was not the only talented female scientist to make her way through Hans Spemann’s laboratory. The next part of our story takes us back there again.
“A woman and a Jew? Forget it!”: The story of Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch
Kat: That’s all for now. We’ll be back next time taking a look at how genomics is shaping the future of cancer - and before that, there’s another bonus episode of Genetics Shambles to fill your ears.
For more information about this podcast including show notes, transcripts, links, references, music credits and everything else head over to geneticsunzipped.com You can find us on Twitter @geneticsunzip and please do take a moment to rate and review us on Apple podcasts - it really makes a difference and helps more people discover the show.
Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by me, Kat Arney, with additional research and scripting by Emily Nordvang. It is produced by First Create the Media for The Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics. You can find out more and apply to join at genetics.org.uk.
Our theme music was composed by Dan Pollard, and the logo was designed by James Mayall, and audio production was by Hannah Varrall. Thanks for listening, and until next time, goodbye.
All music and sound effects licensed from Envato and Epidemic Sound
Image credit: Human embryo from IVF. Credit: K. Hardy. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
