About the book

The embryos that we see today on our computer and television screens were first visualized over a hundred years ago, but in very different media. While much has been written about the remarkable transformation of embryology during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Embryos in wax highlights the role of three-dimensional models for the first time. It is about the finest wax embryos, the extraordinary objects that Adolf and Friedrich Ziegler cast for universities and museums around the world. For decades indispensable in teaching and research, these models opened up new visions of pregnancy and evolution. Discovering how they were made and used gives our understanding of embryos a whole new dimension, and challenges the monopoly of books in histories of science.

This is an accessible history of embryos in wax, and a comprehensive guide to the most numerous and diverse embryological models in collections today. Lavishly illustrated with dozens of historical photographs, 32 pages of colour plates, and a reprint of a rare catalogue, it is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of biology and medicine.

A former developmental biologist, Nick Hopwood is Lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, where he teaches history of modern medicine and biology.