COBHUNI Lecture: Reflections on the history of embryology: from the 18th century to the digital embryoLecture by Dr. Janina Wellmann, on Tuesday 26 June 2018, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Room 136, 14pm

26 June 2018

In the history of biology, embryology has long been a field rather neglected by historians of science who preferred to study genetics, molecular biology or evolution, which dominated 20th century life sciences. With the advent of systems biology in the 21st century, however, embryology finally seems to reach centre stage.
In fact, developmental biologist Scott Gilbert in his authoritative textbook on developmental biology traces the beginnings of modern systems biology to the science of development: as a science of syntheses and relationships embryology has from the onset asked the kinds of questions that will become central to all the future life sciences.
But what is development? How have scientists observed the formation of the embryo over the centuries? And how has our understanding of development changed with new technologies, new model organisms and shifting questions?
In my talk, I will trace the history of embryology from the advent of embryology as a scientific discipline around 1800 to contemporary systems biology. In particular, I will pay attention to the question of how epistemology and aesthetics are entwined in our approach to and understanding of the study of emerging form. I will argue that this shift in perspective is crucial in order to understand the complex temporal dynamics of the developmental process as well as the constitutive role of various pictorial techniques, media and forms of representation in the study of life.