Embryologist. Hilde Mangold, a German Embryologist, received recognition for her 1923 doctorate thesis, which gave details of pioneer research in embryology. Sources state her detailed paper was "one of the very few doctoral theses in biology that have directly resulted in the awarding of a Nobel Prize". She wrote her thesis, “Induction of Embryonic Primordia by Implantation of Organizers from a Different Species,” while studying under Dr. Hans Spemann, 1935 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recipient. After receiving her doctorate in February of 1923, she, along with her husband and infant son, moved to Berlin in 1924. Before her detailed thesis could be published in scientific journals, she died of burns from a kitchen gas leak explosion in her Berlin apartment. She was buried in the plot with her parents. Born the middle daughter of a well-to-do family, she attended local schools before enrolling in the University of Jena for two semesters in 1918 and 1919. After transferring to the University of Frankfort, she attended a lecture by the renowned embryologist Hans Spemann on experimental embryology. She changed her major and attended the Zoological Institute in Freiburg where Spemann was doing research. There she met her husband, Otto Mangold, who was Spemann’s chief laboratory assistant. In 1924 her husband obtained a director position at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin, thus the relocation. In Spemann’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he mentioned her research twice. Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously, thus she was not a candidate for the coveted award. More than a decade after her death, her husband became very active in the Nazi Party and her son, a German Nazi soldier, died during World War II. Dying young, she was unable to witness the impact her pioneer research had on embryology or to continue her research.
Embryologist. Hilde Mangold, a German Embryologist, received recognition for her 1923 doctorate thesis, which gave details of pioneer research in embryology. Sources state her detailed paper was "one of the very few doctoral theses in biology that have directly resulted in the awarding of a Nobel Prize". She wrote her thesis, “Induction of Embryonic Primordia by Implantation of Organizers from a Different Species,” while studying under Dr. Hans Spemann, 1935 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recipient. After receiving her doctorate in February of 1923, she, along with her husband and infant son, moved to Berlin in 1924. Before her detailed thesis could be published in scientific journals, she died of burns from a kitchen gas leak explosion in her Berlin apartment. She was buried in the plot with her parents. Born the middle daughter of a well-to-do family, she attended local schools before enrolling in the University of Jena for two semesters in 1918 and 1919. After transferring to the University of Frankfort, she attended a lecture by the renowned embryologist Hans Spemann on experimental embryology. She changed her major and attended the Zoological Institute in Freiburg where Spemann was doing research. There she met her husband, Otto Mangold, who was Spemann’s chief laboratory assistant. In 1924 her husband obtained a director position at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin, thus the relocation. In Spemann’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he mentioned her research twice. Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously, thus she was not a candidate for the coveted award. More than a decade after her death, her husband became very active in the Nazi Party and her son, a German Nazi soldier, died during World War II. Dying young, she was unable to witness the impact her pioneer research had on embryology or to continue her research.
Bio by: Linda Davis
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See more Mangold or Pröscholdt memorials in:
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- Gotha Mangold or Pröscholdt
- Landkreis Gotha Mangold or Pröscholdt
- Thüringen Mangold or Pröscholdt
- Germany Mangold or Pröscholdt
- Find a Grave Mangold or Pröscholdt
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