Friedrich Leopold August Weismann published Das
Keimplasma: eine Theorie der Vererbung (The Germ-Plasm: a
Theory of Heredity, hereafter The Germ-Plasm) while
working at the University of Freiburg in Freiburg, Germany in 1892.
William N. Parker, a professor in the University College of South
Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff, UK, translated The
Germ-Plasm into English in 1893. In The Germ-Plasm,
Weismann proposed a theory of heredity based on the concept of the
germ plasm, a substance in the germ cell that carries hereditary information. The
Germ-Plasm compiled Weismann's theoretical work and analyses of
other biologists' experimental work in the 1880s, and it provided a
framework to study development, evolution and heredity. Weismann
anticipated that the germ-plasm theory would enable researchers to
investigate the functions and material of hereditary substances.
Details
- The Germ-Plasm: a Theory of Heredity (1893), by August Weismann
- Zou, Yawen (Author)
- Turriziani Colonna, Federica (Editor)
- Arizona State University. School of Life Sciences. Center for Biology and Society. Embryo Project Encyclopedia. (Publisher)
- Arizona Board of Regents (Publisher)
- University of Freiburg
- Germ-plasm
- Theories