Viktor Hamburger
Washington University in St. Louis
July 9, 1900 - June 12, 2001
|
Scientific Discipline: Cellular and Developmental Biology Membership Type:
Emeritus
(elected 1953)
|
Viktor Hamburger defined the interactions of the developing nervous system with the tissues it targets. He observed trophic factors, chemical signals released by target tissues, and how they network with nerve cells to create a competitive environment among neurons. This research led him to further work on reflexes in developing embryos. He discovered that movements within the embryo were spontaneous, contradicting the argument made by behavioral psychologists that behavior arises from stimuli.
Hamburger attended the University of Freiburg in Germany, where he earned his PhD in 1925. In 1932 he came to the United States as a Rockefeller Fellow. When the Nazi Party rose to power in 1933, he stayed in the U.S., studying at the University of Chicago, as he lost his research position in Germany. He then moved to the University of Washington in St. Louis, where he served as chair of the biology department and continued his research until the mid-1980s.
