Fritz Baltzer

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Fritz Richard Baltzer (born March 12, 1884 in Hottingen ; † March 18, 1974 in Bern ) was a Swiss zoologist , geneticist and developmental biologist .

career

The son of the alpine geologist Armin Baltzer passed his matriculation exams in Bern (1902) and Dresden (1903). From 1903 to 1905 he studied zoology at the University of Bern with Theophil Studer and moved to the University of Würzburg in 1905 . In 1908 he received his doctorate there under Theodor Boveri with a thesis on the subject of " On multipolar mitoses in sea urchin eggs ". His research areas also included phenotypic sex determination and extreme sexual dimorphism in the green hedgehog worm Bonellia viridis .

In 1910 he became a private lecturer and in 1915 an associate professor. From 1919 he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Freiburg with Hans Spemann . In 1921 he was appointed full professor of zoology, comparative anatomy and general biology at the University of Bern.

Baltzer was also director of the Zoological Institute at the University of Bern and a founding member and president of the Swiss Society for Heredity Research. In 1933, Baltzer was President of the German Zoological Society . As a non-German he resigned from office after Hitler came to power.

From 1948 to 1949, Baltzer held a visiting professorship in embryology at Iowa State University . Since 1952 he was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . Baltzer retired in 1954, his successor at the Zoological Institute was Fritz Erich Lehmann .

research

Baltzer researched, among other things, in the field of experimental developmental physiology, where he gained important knowledge about the localization of the genetic factors. He investigated the genetic role of the nucleus and cell plasma in newt and salamander species . In his experiments, he implanted an alien sperm nucleus into an enucleated egg cell, which should take over the function of the zygote nucleus.

Baltzer was able to observe that the skin of a hybrid produced in this way had the typical characteristics of the species that the enucleated plasma had contributed to the new organism, thus demonstrating the importance of the plasma for the transmission of species-specific development factors.

Based on his findings, numerous human malformations such as anencephaly and acrania in humans could be clarified.

Baltzer also published biographies of his teachers Theophil Studer and Theodor Boveri.

Honors

Fonts

  • On multipolar mitoses in sea urchin eggs. Phys.-med. Ges. Würzburg. Vol. 39. 1908
  • Dr. Theophil Studer. Announcements from the Natural Research Society in Bern, born in 1922
  • Monograph of the Echiurids of the Gulf of Naples and the adjacent sea sections. Berlin, Friedlander. 1917
  • Theodor Boveri. Life and work of a great biologist, 1862–1915. Stuttgart, scientist Ed. 1962

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Member entry of Fritz Baltzer (with picture and link to an obituary) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on January 16, 2017.
  2. ↑ http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20002653.html

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Baltzer, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baltzer, Friedrich Richard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss zoologist, developmental biologist and geneticist
DATE OF BIRTH March 12, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Hottingen
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1974
Place of death Bern