Boveri

BOVERI, Theodor (Theodor Boveri, 1862-1915), an outstanding zoologist, professor at the University of Würzburg, author of a number of most important works in the field of experimental cytology, embryology, and zoology; the theory of chromosome individuality developed by him is the basis of modern cytogenetics. Boveri was the first to point out that the centrosomes of the developing egg originate from the centrosome of the sperm and that the division of the sea urchin egg's plasma into different layers determines the differentiation of primary organs. In his work on the development of ascaris eggs, Boveri established the difference between the nuclear structures of germ and somatic cells. His very interesting experiment of fertilizing the egg of one genus of sea urchin (Sphaerechinus), previously deprived of its nucleus, with the sperm of another genus (Echinus) showed that the resulting larva exhibited characteristics of the paternal species, i.e., that the nucleus is the carrier of hereditary properties. B. belongs to the theory of the formation of malignant tumors, namely, that they can arise from cells resulting from improperly occurring mitoses, as happens during regeneration after injuries or inflammations, when halves of not all chromosomes enter the daughter cells, which leads to a violation of intracellular equilibrium and can serve as the beginning of rapid, uncontrollable growth. In the field of comparative anatomy, B. belongs to the discovery of the excretory system in the form of nephridia in amphioxus. B. brilliantly analyzed his understanding of the role of chromosomes in his work on gynandromorphism in bees. B.'s main works: Zellstudien, 1887-1907; Ein geschlechtlich erzeugter Organismus ohne mütterliche Eigenschaften, 1899; Uber die Entstehung des Gegensatzes zwischen den Geschlechtszellen und den somatischen Zellen bei Ascaris megalocephala, 1892; Entstehung maligner Tumoren, 1914; Uber die Entstehung der Engsterschen Zwitterbienen, 1915.