With a loan from his older brother, Wilson went to Europe following his graduation. First he visited Cambridge, where he met the renowned physiologist Michael Foster, who was also a secretary of the Royal Society of London. While in the UK, Wilson presented a paper to the Royal Society before continuing on to Germany. He had heard about the mecca for biologists at the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, but he could not afford the fees. Fortunately, the Stazione had a system by which universities subscribed to tables. Wilson’s cousin, Samuel Clarke, was a professor at Williams College and got permission for Wilson to work at the Stazione for a year in exchange for Wilson’s teaching for a year at Williams College.
The Stazione had the same inspiring effect on Wilson that it did on many young biologists of the day. Wilson later referred to his year there as one of the best times of his life, full of science, companionship with others of like interests, exposure to the newest techniques and equipment, and access to an astonishing diversity of organisms to study.
In Naples, Wilson got to know the founding director, Anton Dohrn, and he became part of the community of music. Dohrn felt that any scientific institution should also embrace music and the arts, so he adorned the walls with paintings and murals and he welcomed musicians. Wilson’s pictures from the Stazione include the apparatus of science, and also the music.
Early Life and Education
- Allen, Garland E. “Wilson, Edmund Beecher.” Dictionary of Scientific Biography 14: 423–6.
- Maienschein, Jane, "Edmund Beecher Wilson (1856-1939)". Embryo Project Encyclopedia (2013-08-05). ISSN: 1940-5030 http://embryo.asu.edu/handle/10776/6044. embryo.asu.edu/pages/edmund-beecher-wilson-1856-1939.
- Morgan, Thomas Hunt. 1941. “Biographical Memoir of Edmund Beecher Wilson, 1856–1939,” National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs 21: 315–42.
The Johns Hopkins University
- Moore, John A. 1987. "Edmund Beecher Wilson, Class of '81". American Zoologist 27(3): 785-796.
The Stazione Zoologica in Naples and Music
- Groeben, Christiane. 1985. "Anton Dohrn--The Statesman of Darwinism: To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the death of Anton Dohrn". Biological Bulletin 168: 4-25. www.biolbull.org/content/168/3S/4.full.pdf+html.
- Maienschein, Jane. 1985. "First impressions: American biologists at Naples". Biological Bulletin 168: 187-191. www.biolbull.org/content/168/3S/187.full.pdf+html.
Cell Lineage
- Fischer, Antje HL et al. (2012). “The normal development of Platynereis dumerilii (Nereididae, Annelida).” Frontiers in Zoology 7(31): 1-39.
- Gilbert, Scott. (2014). Developmental Biology, 10th edition. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates Inc Publishers.
- MacCord, Kate, "Germ Layers". Embryo Project Encyclopedia (2013-09-17). ISSN: 1940-5030 http://embryo.asu.edu/handle/10776/6273.
- Maienschein, Jane. (1991). Transforming Traditions in American Biology, 1880-1915. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Pearse, Vicki, John Pearse, Mildred Buchsbaum & Ralph Buchsbaum. (1987). Living Invertebrates. Pacific Grove, CA: The Boxwood Press.
- Seaver, Elaine C. (2014). “Variation in spiralian development: insights from polychaetes.” Int. J. Dev. Biol 58: 457-467.
- Sedgwick, William T. & Edmund B. Wilson. (1895). An Introduction to General Biology. New York: H. Holt.
- Wilson, Edmund B. (1892). “The Cell-Lineage of Nereis: A Contribution to the Cytogeny of the Annelid Body.” Journal of Morphology 6(3): 361-481.
