| Hilde Mangold | |
|---|---|
| Born | 20 October 1898 Gotha, Germany |
| Died | 4 September 1924 Freiburg, Germany |
| Nationality | Germany |
| Fields | Embryology |
| Known for | Embryonic induction and the Organiser |
Hilde Mangold (20 October 1898 – 4 September 1924) was a German embryologist who was best known for her thesis dissertation performed at the Zoological Institute in Freiburg, Germany under the direction of Hans Spemann. The dissertation, entitled “Über Induktion von Embryonalanlagen durch Implantation artfremder Organisatoren”, or “Induction of Embryonic Primordia by Implantation of Organizers from a Different Species”, was the foundation for her mentor’s 1935 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the organizer.[1] The effect is now known as embryonic induction.
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Hilde Pröscholdt was born in Gotha, Thuringia, a province in central-eastern Germany on October 20, 1898, the middle daughter of soap factory owner Ernest Proschold and his wife Gertrude. She attended the University of Jena in Germany for two semesters in 1918 and 1919 and then transferred to the University of Frankfurt in Germany where she also spent two semesters. It was here that she saw the lecture of renowned embryologist Hans Spemann on experimental embryology. This lecture inspired her to pursue her education in this field. After Frankfurt, she attended the Zoological Institute in Freiburg for her PhD under Hans Spemann where she performed the experiments that led to her dissertation and eventually to his Nobel Prize. It was here that she met and married her husband, Otto Mangold, who was Spemann’s chief assistant and a supporter of the Nazi Party.. Her remarkable manual dexterity allowed her to perform very delicate experiments with embryos, including one where she created by removing a small piece of tissue from the embryo of one species of salamander and grafted it onto the embryo of another species.This resulted in the second embryo developing into twins, and was the basis of the discovery of the "organizer", which is responsible for gastrulation.[2] After earning her PhD in zoology, Hilde moved with her husband and infant son, Christian, to Berlin. Shortly after her move to Berlin, Hilde died from severe burns as a result of a gas heater explosion in her Berlin home. She never lived to see the publication of her thesis results. Her son died in World War II. [1]