The community site for and by
developmental and stem cell biologists

Genetics Unzipped: On Growth and Form: The extraordinary life and work of D’Arcy Thompson

Posted by , on 10 February 2022

Illustrations from On Growth And Form by D’Arcy Thompson

Whereas previously, most biologists felt that the living world had to be dealt with in a completely separate way from the non-living world, D’Arcy was saying, “Actually, no. We can look at a lot of basic forms in biology and explain their growth and shapes according to fundamental laws of physics and mathematics. A living thing may grow in exactly the same way as a non-living thing because it’s just obeying these fundamental laws.”

Matthew Jarron describing D’Arcy Thompson

In the latest episode of the Genetics Unzipped podcast, we’re exploring the life and work of D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson – one of the first scientists to bring together the worlds of mathematics and biology in the quest to understand how living things are built. Dr Kat Arney sat down with the curator of the University of Dundee’s D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, Matthew Jarron, to find out more about this larger than life character…

Genetics Unzipped is the podcast from The Genetics Society. Full transcript, links and references available online at GeneticsUnzipped.com.

Subscribe from Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Head over to GeneticsUnzipped.com to catch up on our extensive back catalogue.

If you enjoy the show, please do rate and review on Apple podcasts and help to spread the word on social media. And you can always send feedback and suggestions for future episodes and guests to podcast@geneticsunzipped.com Follow us on Twitter – @geneticsunzip

Thumbs up (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories: Outreach, Podcast, Societies

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get involved

Create an account or log in to post your story on the Node.

Sign up for emails

Subscribe to our mailing lists.

Do you have any news to share?

Our ‘Developing news’ posts celebrate the various achievements of the people in the developmental and stem cell biology community. Let us know if you would like to share some news.