Women Scientists

Christiane Nusslein Volhard 1942-

At a glance:

German developmental biologist, Nobel Prize for Medicine 1995

Currently Director of the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Biology, Dr Nusslein Volhard initially worked with tiny fruit flies, called Drosophila. She had the idea of exposing their eggs with chemicals and radiation (which causes genetic mutations) and then looking for strange looking larvae and flies as this would help identify which genes were responsible for forming body pattern. At the time, many of the mechanisms which made it possible for a single cell to develop into a multi-functional organism were not understood. Nusslein-Volhard found huge numbers of new genes creating the foundation for work on the development of all other creatures including humans. She also began the tradition of giving descriptive names to genes such as Sonic Hedgehog and Knirps (after the little pocket German umbrella. She won her Nobel prize in 1995 and used the prize money to set up a fund for women scientists which pays for childcare and, as importantly in her opinion, cleaners.
Christiane Nusslein Volhard

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