A virtual exhibition has been created by staff at the University's Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Making Visible Embryos at http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/visibleembryos/ It features images taken from some of our rare books.
Images of human embryos
Images of human embryos are everywhere. We see them in newspapers, clinics, classrooms, laboratories, family albums and on the internet. Debates about abortion, assisted conception, cloning and Darwinism have sometimes made these images hugely controversial, but they are also routine. We tend to take them for granted today. Yet 250 years ago human development was still nowhere to be seen.
Developing embryos were first drawn in the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Modern medicine and biology exploited technical innovations as pictures and models communicated new attitudes to childbirth, evolution and reproduction. In the twentieth century they became the dominant representations of pregnancy and prominent symbols of hope and fear. Wherever we stand in today’s debates, it should enrich and may challenge our understandings to explore how these icons have been made.
Exhibition
Eight sections are arranged in roughly chronological order. Each focuses on an era and an issue. By contextualizing images that have become iconic or were especially widely distributed in their own time, the exhibition aims to illuminate key questions and concerns. By depicting imaging technologies and people engaged in image production, it emphasizes the work of making visible embryos.
Each page consists of a main section and a ‘box’ on the right, highlighting an important issue, person or object. Click on a thumbnail for a larger image and the full caption. The ‘Resources’ buttons offer suggestions for exploring further.
