Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard

          My final blog for this semester is about a woman who was dubbed as the “Lady of the Flies.” Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard was born on October 20, 1942 in Germany. While she was growing up, the world was experiencing the end of World War II. She grew up in a household where the children were taught to sew their own clothes and grow their own food. Christiane’s family were all artists and musicians. Although Christiane showed some talent in the arts, her heart was set on biology. Her parents and siblings were extremely supportive and would often listen to Christiane’s wonderful ideas about science.

            Christiane loved to study what she was interested in. Her teachers called her a brilliant student but very lazy. Christiane found that she had to work hard in a man’s world, especially since women were meant to stay at home. She decided from the beginning that her studies had to come first. She eventually earned a PhD in molecular biology in 1974. Christiane wanted to study something new and different. She was instantly attracted to the area of development in Drosophila (fruit flies). She always found fruit flies fascinating, and she wanted to know how a single cell could turn into a complicated organism.

            Christiane and her team began working on fruit fly embryos. Fruit flies were chosen due to their fast reproduction rate. She would expose the embryo to a mutagen and see how this would affect the fly’s development. Through multiple experiments, she figured out which genes controlled which body part. She even studied a fly that had no head. Instead, it had two tails. Christiane and her team identified about 5,000 genes that were vital to a fruit fly’s development. Her work eventually led to a better understanding on how human develop and how birth defects can affect development. Christiane, along with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995. Christiane currently works on zebrafish to study mutations and vertebrate development.

            Christiane was a woman who knew what she wanted and knew what she loved. She loved fruit flies so much she admitted to dreaming about them. That amount of love for research and fruit flies is incredibly admirable. One of the greatest traits scientists have is their passion for their interests. To think that some people believe that women shouldn’t have a passion for science is unbelievable. Yet, women continue to prove that they can change the world. Hopefully the women I talked about inspired some of you to learn more about women in science. We’re a pretty cool bunch, if I so say so myself.

 

Sources

“Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World,” written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky.

Dr. Christiane  Nüsslein-Volhard: http://www.famousscientists.org/christiane-nusslein-volhard/

http://www.dnaftb.org/37/bio-2.html