User:Sarahstevs/Ethel Browne Harvey

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Sources
 * Family life
 * Overview of education
 * Overview of Lenhoff's paper
 * Marriage
 * 1940s parthenogenetic cleavage
 * Marine biology lab
 * Died of appendicitis


 * New York Times
 * Died at 79
 * Developed embryonic life from fragments of eggs
 * Said experiments brought life closer to "Brave New World"
 * Showed that life could develop without the nucleus
 * Removed nuclei by centrifugal force

Editing Paragraph


 * In the 1930s, she demonstrated a method of parthenogenetic cleavage, inducing unfertilized sea urchin eggs to cleave and ultimately to hatch. Browne used centrifugal force to remove the nuclei of these eggs. This work received popular attention as "creation of life without parents". Browne's experiments were especially noteworthy in that she demonstrated that chromosomes were not necessary to create life. Her experiments showed that cytoplasm was capable of developing life without the need for the nucleus. She termed this method of creating life as "parthenogenic merogony" in which "a portion of the egg without the nucleus is fertilized".

Contents

 * 1Biography
 * 2Bibliography
 * 3Awards
 * 4Notes
 * 5Further reading and research

Early Childhood and Education
Ethel Nicholson Browne was born December 14, 1885, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Bennett Barnard Browne and Jennifer Nicholson Browne. She was one of five children; three of her siblings became doctors, including two of her sisters (Jennie Nicholson Browne and Mary Nicholson Browne), and one of her brothers became a metallurgist.

Browne's parents sent their three daughters to the Bryn Mawr School, which was the first solely preparatory girls' school in the United States. Browne graduated there in 1902, and then attended Goucher College (then known as the Woman's College of Baltimore). After graduating with her B.A. in 1906, and then studied zoology at Columbia University, earning an MA in 1907 and a Ph.D. in 1913.

Career and Research
At Columbia she worked with Thomas Hunt Morgan and Edmund Beecher Wilson. Her doctoral thesis was on the male germ cells an aquatic insect, leading her to further work focusing on cellular mechanisms in inheritance and development. She was supported during this time by several fellowships aimed at assisting women in science, including one from the Society for the Promotion of University Education for Women.

During her graduate studies at Columbia, Browne "demonstrated that transplanting the hypostome from one hydra into another hydra would induce a secondary axis in the host hydra."This work, done in 1909, preceded experiments in 1924 by Hans Spemann and Hilde Mangold, that are credited with discovering the "organizer" — this work was the basis of a Nobel Prize given to Spemann. Howard M. Lenhoff has argued that Ethel Browne should have shared in Spemann's Nobel Prize, because she did the experiment first; she understood its significance; and she had, in fact, sent her paper to Spemann, who had underlined the portion of the paper that discussed the significance of her work.

In 1915, she married fellow scientist, E. Newton Harvey, a physiologist known for work on bioluminescence. Browne, adopting her husband's surname, had two children with him; Edmund Newton Harvey, Jr. (born 1916, later a chemist) and Richard Bennet Harvey (born 1922, later a physician). Although working only part-time for the next several years, she nevertheless continued her work, making numerous important contributions.

In the 1930s, she demonstrated a method of parthenogenetic cleavage, inducing unfertilized sea urchin eggs to cleave and ultimately to hatch. Browne used centrifugal force to remove the nuclei of these eggs. This work received popular attention as "creation of life without parents".Browne's experiments were especially noteworthy in that she demonstrated that chromosomes were not necessary to create life. Her experiments showed that cytoplasm was capable of developing life without the need for the nucleus. She termed this method of creating life as "parthenogenic merogony" in which "a portion of the egg without the nucleus is fertilized".

Browne worked for many years at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She taught at a variety of institutions, including the Bennett School for Girls in Millbrook, New York, the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts; Washington Square College at NYU. She conducted scientific research in a variety of positions including Princeton University and Cornell Medical College. She was associated with the American Women's Table in Naples, an organization established by Ida Henrietta Hyde and other women scientists.

Ethel Browne Harvey died of peritonitis from appendicitis in 1965.

Bibliography[edit]

 * Selected significant publications
 * The American Arbacia and Other Sea Urchins (1956)
 * "A Study of the Male Germ Cells in Notonecta", Journal of Experimental Zoology, Jan. 1913
 * "A Review of the Chromosome Numbers in the Metazoa", Journal of Morphology, Dec. 1916 and June 1920
 * "Parthenogenetic Merogony or Cleavage Without Nuclei in Arbacia puntulata ", Biological Bulletin, Aug. 1936
 * "Fertilization", Encyclopædia Britannica, 1946 and 1961.
 * Articles from The Biological Bulletin
 * (1919). MITOTIC DIVISION OF BINUCLEATE CELLS. The Biological Bulletin, 37(2), 96-1. 10.2307/1536351.
 * (1927). THE EFFECT OF LACK OF OXYGEN ON SEA URCHIN EGGS. The Biological Bulletin, 52(3), 147-160. 10.2307/1536969
 * (1930). THE EFFECT OF LACK OF OXYGEN ON THE SPERM AND UNFERTILIZED EGGS OF ARBACIA PUNCTULATA, AND ON FERTILIZATION. The Biological Bulletin, 58(3), 288-292. 10.2307/1537108
 * (1932). THE DEVELOPMENT OF HALF AND QUARTER EGGS OF ARBACIA PUNCTULATA AND OF STRONGLY CENTRIFUGED WHOLE EGGS. The Biological Bulletin, 62(2), 155-167. 10.2307/1537547
 * (1933a). DEVELOPMENT OF THE PARTS OF SEA URCHIN EGGS SEPARATED BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE. The Biological Bulletin, 64(2), 125-148. 10.2307/1537225
 * (1933b). EFFECTS OF CENTRIFUGAL FORCE ON FERTILIZED EGGS OF ARBACIA PUNCTULATA AS OBSERVED WITH THE CENTRIFUGE-MICROSCOPE. The Biological Bulletin, 65(3), 389-396. 10.2307/1537213
 * (1934). EFFECTS OF CENTRIFUGAL FORCE ON THE ECTOPLASMIC LAYER AND NUCLEI OF FERTILIZED SEA URCHIN EGGS. The Biological Bulletin, 66(2), 228-245. 10.2307/1537334
 * (1935a). THE MITOTIC FIGURE AND CLEAVAGE PLANE IN THE EGG OF PARECHINUS MICROTUBERCULATUS, AS INFLUENCED BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE. The Biological Bulletin, 69(2), 287-297. 10.2307/1537428
 * (1935b). SOME SURFACE PHENOMENA IN THE FERTILIZED SEA URCHIN EGG AS INFLUENCED BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE. The Biological Bulletin, 69(2), 298-304. 10.2307/1537429
 * (1936). PARTHENOGENETIC MEROGONY OR CLEAVAGE WITHOUT NUCLEI IN ARBACIA PUNCTULATA. The Biological Bulletin, 71(1), 101-121. 10.2307/1537411
 * (1938). PARTHENOGENETIC MEROGONY OR DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT NUCLEI OF THE EGGS OF SEA URCHINS FROM NAPLES. The Biological Bulletin, 75(1), 170-188. 10.2307/1537682
 * (1939a). DEVELOPMENT OF HALF-EGGS OF CHAETOPTERUS PERGAMENTACEUS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PARTHENOGENETIC MEROGONY. The Biological Bulletin, 76(3), 384-404. 10.2307/1537746
 * (1939b). AN HERMAPHRODITE ARBACIA. The Biological Bulletin, 77(1), 74-78. 10.2307/1537845
 * (1940a). A COMPARISON OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEATE AND NON-NUCLEATE EGGS OF ARBACIA PUNCTULATA. The Biological Bulletin, 79(1), 166-187. 10.2307/1537837
 * (1940b). DEVELOPMENT OF HALF-EGGS OF ARBACIA PUNCTULATA OBTAINED BY CENTRIFUGING AFTER FERTILIZATION, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PARTHENOGENETIC MEROGONY. The Biological Bulletin, 78(3), 412-427. 10.2307/1537663
 * (1940c). A NEW METHOD OF PRODUCING TWINS, TRIPLETS AND QUADRUPLETS IN ARBACIA PUNCTULATA, AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. The Biological Bulletin, 78(2), 202-216. 10.2307/1537773
 * (1941a). RELATION OF THE SIZE OF "HALVES" OF THE ARBACIA PUNCTULATA EGG TO CENTRIFUGAL FORCE. The Biological Bulletin, 80(3), 354-362. 10.2307/1537721
 * (1941b). VITAL STAINING OF THE CENTRIFUGED ARBACIA PUNCTULATA EGG. The Biological Bulletin, 81(1), 114-118. 10.2307/1537625
 * (1943). RATE OF BREAKING AND SIZE OF THE "HALVES" OF THE ARBACIA PUNCTULATA EGG WHEN CENTRIFUGED IN HYPO- AND HYPERTONIC SEA WATER. The Biological Bulletin, 85(2), 141-150. 10.2307/1538275
 * (1945). STRATIFICATION AND BREAKING OF THE ARBACIA PUNCTULATA EGG WHEN CENTRIFUGED IN SINGLE SALT SOLUTIONS. The Biological Bulletin, 89(1), 72-75. 10.2307/1538084
 * (1949). THE GROWTH AND METAMORPHOSIS OF THE ARBACIA PUNCTULATA PLUTEUS, AND LATE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WHITE HALVES OF CENTRIFUGED EGGS. The Biological Bulletin, 97(3), 287-299. 10.2307/1538319
 * (1960). CLEAVAGE WITH NUCLEUS INTACT IN SEA URCHIN EGGS. The Biological Bulletin, 119(1), 87-89. 10.2307/1538936
 * (1962). PROFLAVIN AND ITS INFLUENCE ON CLEAVAGE AND DEVELOPMENT. The Biological Bulletin, 123(1), 132-133. 10.2307/1539509
 * (1943). THE SPERMATOZOON AND FERTILIZATION MEMBRANE OF ARBACIA PUNCTULATA AS SHOWN BY THE ELECTRON MICROSCOPE. The Biological Bulletin, 85(2), 151-156. 10.2307/1538276
 * (1938). PARTHENOGENETIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE EGGS AND EGG FRACTIONS OF ARBACIA PUNCTULATA CAUSED BY MONOCHROMATIC ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION. The Biological Bulletin, 75(2), 258-265. 10.2307/1537733
 * (1944). THE CHROMATIN IN THE LIVING ARBACIA PUNCTULATA EGG, AND THE CYTOPLASM OF THE CENTRIFUGED EGG AS PHOTOGRAPHED BY ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT. The Biological Bulletin, 86(3), 163-168. 10.2307/1538338
 * (1928). FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE EFFECT OF HIGH FREQUENCY SOUND WAVES ON LIVING MATTER. The Biological Bulletin, 55(6), 459-469. 10.2307/1536801

Awards[edit]

 * 1956 - Honorary D.Sc. from Goucher College
 * Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
 * Fellow, L'Institut International d'Embryologie in Utrecht
 * Fellow, New York Academy of Sciences
 * Elected as trustee of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.

Notes[edit]

 * 1) ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k Donna J. Haraway, "Ethel Browne Harvey", in Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green, editors, Notable American Women: The Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary. Volume 4(Harvard University Press, 1980)
 * 2) ^ Jump up to:a b Scott F. Gilbert, "Ethel Browne Harvey (1885-1965) and the Organizer" Archived 2013-01-21 at Archive.today, DevBio: A Companion to Developmental Biology, Ninth Edition, Chapter 18.
 * 3) ^ Lenhoff, H. M. 1991. "Ethel Browne, Hans Spemann, and the Discovery of the Organizer Phenomenon," Biol. Bull., v.181, pp.72–80 (Aug. 1991), cited by Gilbert.
 * 4) ^ "1940-1954", Birth of Molecular Biology (last visited Oct. 7, 2012).
 * 5) ^ See, e.g., Life, Sept. 13, 1937, p.7; New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 28, 1937, pp.1, 32; New York Times, Nov. 28, 1937, pp. 1, 41; Newsweek, Dec. 6, 1937, pp.36-37; Time, Dec. 6, 1937, p.32, all cited in Haraway.
 * 6) ^

Further reading and research[edit]

 * Donna J. Haraway, "Ethel Browne Harvey", in Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green, editors, Notable American Women: The Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary. Volume 4(Harvard University Press, 1980)
 * Obituary, New York Times