Penarroyo, Kyle Angela R.

4BIO6

Scientists in Embryology

1. Aristotle (384-322 B.C)

He studied embryos of different organisms by dissecting mammalian and cold-blooded
embryos and opening up birds at different stages of development. He described two
important models of development known as preformation (semen contains an embryo- a
preformed, miniature infant/ homunculus that becomes larger during development) and
epigenesis (form of an animal emerges gradually from a relatively formless egg).
2. Galen of Pergamos (150- 180 A.D.)
He was a vitalist (life arises from or contains a nonmaterial vital principle) and teleologist (all
life and actions are driven by an ultimate purpose). His contribution to embryology was that
he believes that the umbilical cord is needed for respiration.
3. William Harvey (1578-1667)
He dissected and examined deer and chicken embryos with the use of low-powered lenses.
HE believed that all animals originate from eggs. He determined the position where embryo
arises in an egg, “white spot”. He described the blastoderm as the unique place of origin in
the embryonic body. He noted the importance of amniotic fluid as shock absorber for the
embryo.
4. Marcello Malpighi (1628- 1694)
He is responsible for the rise of preformationist doctrine. He described embryo development
as a simple of an already miniature adult organism. He published the first microscopic
account of chick development.
5. Reinier de Graaf (1641- 1673)
He published works on female genital organs. He first described the “Graafian follicle” in the
ovary of mammals, but believed the entire follicle to be the mammalian oocyte (egg).
6. Albrecht von Haller (1708- 1777)
He adopted the model of preformationism called ovism (the idea that the new individual
exists within the maternal egg prior to conception).
7. Caspar Friedrich Wolff (1734-1794)
He described embryonic development in both plants and animals as a process involving
layers of cells which refuted the theory of preformation.
8. Christian Heinrich Pander (1794-1865)
He was best remembered for the discovery and explanation of the chick blastoderm, a term
he coined. He discovered the three germ layers namely, ectoderm, mesoderm and
endoderm.
9. Karl Ernst von Baer (1792-1876)
He was the first to describe the mammalian ovum. He introduced the term “spermatozoa”.
He also developed the germ-layer theory which became the basis of modern embryology.
He believed that development is epigenetic, proceeding from homogenous to heterogenous
matter. His work on the embryological development of animals led him to establish four laws
of development.
10. Martin Heinrich Rathke (1793- 1860)
 He first described the embryonic structure, now known as “Rathke’s pouch” from which the
anterior lobe of the pituitary gland develops. He studied marine organism and the embryonic
development of sex organs. He was the first to describe the brachial clefts and gill arches
in the embryos of mammals and birds.
11. Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919)
He drafted the Biogenetic Law of Muller and Haeckel and was famous for the statement:
“Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”. It claims that an individual organism’s biological
development or ontogeny, parallels and summarises its species’ evolutionary development
or phylogeny.