- Julia Platt
Julia Barlow Platt (Born
14 September 1857 inSan Francisco ; Died 1935 ) was an Americanembryologist andpolitician .She studied at
Harvard University and obtained herdoctorate atFreiburg in 1898. She investigatedembryogenesis , in particular the head development, from studying sharks and salamanders. Her most notable contribution to the field was her demonstration thatneural crest cells formed the jaw cartilage and tooth dentine in salamanders, but her work was not believed by her contemporaries. Her claim went counter to the belief that onlymesoderm could form bones and cartilage. Her hypothesis of the neural crest origin of the cranial skeleton gained acceptance only some 50 years later when confirmed bySven Hörstadius anndSven Sellman .Unable to secure a university position, she became active in politics, and in 1931 (at the age of 74), she became mayor of
Pacific Grove ,California .Publications
* Platt, J. B. (1890): "The Anterior Head-Cavities of Acanthias (Preliminary Notice)", Zool. Anz. 13: 239
* Platt, J. B. (1892): "Fibres connecting the Central Nervous System and Chorda in Amphioxus", Anat. Anz. 7: 282-284
* Platt, J. B. (1893): "Ectodermic Origin of the Cartilages of the Head", Anat. Anz. 8: 506-509
* Platt, J. B. (1894): "Ontogenetische Differenzirung des Ektoderms in Necturus", Archiv mikr. Anat. 43: 911-966
* Platt, J. B. (1894): "Ontogenetic Differentiations of the Ectoderm in Necturus" Anat. Anz. 9: 51-56
* Platt, J. B. (1898): "The development of the cartilaginous skull and of the branchial and hypoglossal musculature in Necturus", Morphol. Jahrb. 25: 377-464References
* Zottoli, S. (1994): "Julia B. Platt (1857-1935): Pioneer comparative embryologist and neuroscientist", Brain, Behav. Evol. 43: 92-106
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