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Although we now know that ontogeny (individual development) does not actually recapitulate phylogeny (evolutionary transformation), contrary to Ernst Haeckel's famous dictum, the relationship between embryological development and evolution remains the subject of intense scientific interest. In the 1990s a new field, evolutionary developmental biology (or evo-devo), was hailed as the synthesis of developmental and evolutionary biology. In From Embryology to Evo-Devo, historians, philosophers, sociologists, and biologists offer diverse perspectives on the history of efforts to understand the links between development and evolution.
After examining events in the history of early twentieth century embryology and developmental genetics – including the fate of Haeckel's law and its various reformulations, the ideas of William Bateson, and Richard Goldschmidt's idiosyncratic synthesis of ontogeny and phylogeny – the contributors explore additional topics ranging from the history of comparative embryology in America to a philosophical-historical analysis of different research styles. Finally, three major figures in theoretical biology – Brian Hall, Gerd Muller, and Gunter Wagner – reflect on the past and future of evo-devo, particularly on the interdisciplinary nature of the field. The sum is an exciting interdisciplinary exploration of developmental evolution.
Manfred D. Laubichler is Assistant Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. Jane Maienschein is Regents' Professor and Parents Association Professor in the School of Life Sciences and Director of the Center of Biology and Society at Arizona State University.
"An exceptionally well-integrated volume [...] Its examination of what isr equired to integrate scientific disciplines, and what is accomplished thereby, is important. It also serves as a model of cooperation among historians, philosophers, and scientists. For historians interested in the focal topics of the book, it is a major and inescapable starting point."
– Richard Burian, Isis
