Hans Spemann

Hans Spemann (1869 to 1941) was a German embryologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1935 for the discovery of embryonic induction, an influence exercised by parts of the embryo that directs groups of cells into particular tissues and organs, work carried out with his student Hilde Mangold. Born in Stuttgart, he studied medicine at Heidelberg University from 1891, then turned to zoology at the University of Würzburg, where he was a lecturer until 1908, and took a degree in zoology, botany and physics in 1895 after study under Theodor Boveri. He became Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at Rostock in 1908, associate director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Biology at Dahlem in 1914, and from 1919 Professor of Zoology at the University of Freiburg, where he advocated a holistic approach to biology.