Ethel Browne Harvey facts for kids

Ethel Browne Harvey (born December 14, 1885 – died September 2, 1965) was an important American scientist. She studied how living things develop from tiny cells. She made big discoveries about cell division using sea urchins. Her work helped us understand how embryos grow.

Early Life and Learning

Ethel Nicholson Browne was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 14, 1885. Her parents were Bennett Barnard Browne and Jennifer Nicholson Browne. She was one of five children. Three of her brothers and sisters became doctors.

Ethel went to the Bryn Mawr School. This was the first school in the United States just for girls to get ready for college. She finished there in 1902. Then she went to Goucher College. After getting her first degree in 1906, she studied zoology. She earned her master's degree in 1907 and her Ph.D. in 1913 from Columbia University.

In 1915, she married another scientist, E. Newton Harvey. He was known for studying bioluminescence, which is how living things make light. Ethel took his last name. They had two sons: Edmund Newton Harvey, Jr., born in 1916, and Richard Bennet Harvey, born in 1922. Even though she worked part-time for many years, she kept doing important scientific research.

Ethel Browne Harvey passed away in 1965.

Amazing Discoveries in Science

At Columbia University, Ethel worked with famous scientists like Thomas Hunt Morgan. Her Ph.D. work in 1913 looked at the tiny cells of an aquatic insect called Notonecta. This led her to study how cells work in inheritance and development. She received special help for women in science, like a fellowship from the Society for the Promotion of University Education for Women.

How Life Develops: Hydra Experiments

In 1909, Ethel Browne did a very important experiment. She showed that if you moved a certain part (called a hypostome) from one hydra (a tiny water animal) to another, the second hydra would grow a new body axis. This was a big deal!

Later, in 1924, other scientists, Hans Spemann and Hilde Mangold, did similar work. They got a Nobel Prize for finding what they called the "organizer." Many people, including scientist Howard M. Lenhoff, believe Ethel Browne should have shared that Nobel Prize. She did the experiment first and understood how important it was. She even sent her paper to Spemann, who clearly saw its significance.

Creating Life Without Parents

In the 1930s, Ethel Browne Harvey made headlines. She found a way to make unfertilized sea urchin eggs start to divide and grow. This process is called parthenogenetic cleavage. She used a special force (centrifugal force) to remove the center part (the nucleus) from these eggs.

Her experiments showed that life could start without the nucleus. This was amazing because people thought the nucleus was always needed. She proved that the other part of the cell, called the cytoplasm, could also help life develop. This work was sometimes called "creation of life without parents."

Working at Marine Labs

Ethel Browne Harvey worked for many years at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She also taught at different schools, including the Bennett School for Girls and the Dana Hall School. She did research at places like Princeton University and Cornell Medical College. She was also connected to the American Women's Table in Naples, an organization for women scientists.

Awards and Honors

• 1956 - Received an honorary science degree (D.Sc.) from Goucher College.
• She was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
• She was a Fellow of L'Institut International d'Embryologie in Utrecht.
• She was a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences.
• She was chosen to be a trustee (a leader) of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.

See also

In Spanish: Ethel Browne Harvey para niños