“Here I Go Again”—will Waddington’s hopes finally be fulfilled? Part II

by Erik L Peterson

Question 2: How did biologists attempt to mend the split between development and inheritance in the past? Answer 2: Morgan (1934) and Waddington (1940). T. H. Morgan’s 1934 book Embryology & Genetics was an important first attempt to close the development-inheritance divide. Morgan blamed the split on vitalism and Hans Spemann’s “organizer” work.

“Here I Go Again”—will Waddington’s hopes finally be fulfilled? Part I

by Erik L Peterson

Introduction Recently, a group of biologists gathered in picturesque accommodations on the side of a mountain to discuss the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES). It was a motley crew. The group included theoreticians and experimentalists, population geneticists and organismal biologists. They brought in a few participants from the humanities and social sciences to boot. Some