Origins & Early Life

Christiane (Janni) Nüsslein-Volhard (German pronunciation: [kʁɪsˈti̯anə ˈnʏslaɪ̯n ˈfɔlˌhaʁt] ; born 20 October 1942) is a German developmental biologist and a 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. She is the only woman from Germany to have received a Nobel Prize in the sciences. Nüsslein-Volhard earned her PhD in 1974 from the University of Tübingen, where she studied protein-DNA interaction. She won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1991 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995, together with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Lewis, for their research on the genetic control of embryonic development. Nüsslein-Volhard was born in Magdeburg on 20 October 1942, the second of five children to Rolf Volhard, an architect, and Brigitte Haas Volhard, a nursery school teacher. She has four siblings: three sisters and one brother. She grew up and went to school in south Frankfurt, where she was exposed to art and music and thus was "trained in looking at things and recognizing things". Her great-grandfather was the chemist Jacob Volhard, and her grandfather was the known internist Franz Volhard.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

She is also the aunt of...

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