Hans Spemann and the organizer concept.

Abstract

In his autobiography2 (p. 171), Spemann says: ‘My strongest inclination and talents are a combination of inquiry into general problems (allgemeine Fragestellung) and technical invention.’ He achieved what he did by bringing these inclinations and talents to their fullest development. Those who are not familiar with the ‘metier’ of the experimental scientist can hardly realize how much attention to minute details and mere drudgery go into experimental work. Spemann had his full share, but no matter how painstaking the labors, the findings were never more than a few steps away from the problem. And it is true that he derived an extraordinary enjoyment and gratification from his very considerable manual skill. He could spend hours playing with glass tubing and rods over the Bunsen — or microburner, preparing instruments for his microsurgery. After his retirement, he writes in a letter to me (8 July 1937): ‘At the moment my passion for playing (with instruments) celebrates orgies, and I feel transferred back to the times when I invented the glass needle technique; the same oblivion of time; the same curiosity and tension and “herzklopfende Seligkeit”.’