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Misleading views of embryology led to the marginalization of this field in the first half of the twentieth century. Gavin de Beer was partly responsible for introducing a genetic perspective to evo–devo, and anticipated continuing problems for molecular genetics.
Although genetics flourished in the first half of the twentieth century, human cytogenetics lagged behind, held up by the obstinate belief that humans had 48 chromosomes. This article examines the technical and psychological factors that hampered progress in the field.
Understanding how developmental processes are altered evolutionarily to produce changes in organismal form is one of the great challenges of evo–devo research. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson deserves much credit for the inspiration his work has provided for modern evo–devo.
The recent eruption of interest in embryonic stem cell research is fuelled by the promise and potential of this work. But current work is firmly grounded in several decades of fascinating research that are engagingly summarized here by the author.
