Hilde Mangold (1898–1924) and Spemann's organizer

achievement and tragedy

pp. 66-75

in: Klaus Sander, Landmarks in developmental biology 1883–1924, Berlin, Springer, 1997

Abstract

The organizer effect was the only achievement that the Nobel committee mentioned when awarding the 1935 prize for physiology or medicine to Hans Spemann. The paper by Spemann and Hilde Mangold describing this effect — published in this journal in 1924¹ — had a great impact for some time but then gradually lost in attraction. However, its citation rate rose again — quite dramatically indeed — when some interactions relevant to "Spemann's organizer" became amenable to molecular analysis (Fig. 1).