Walter Heape, F.R.S.: A Pioneer of Reproductive Biology

Walter Heape never earned a university degree, but after a world voyage he left the family business to train in embryology at Trinity College, Cambridge, and work alongside many great scientists of the late Victorian Age, including Francis Balfour, William Bateson, Michael Foster, James Frazer, Francis Galton, Thomas Huxley, E. Ray Lankester and Anton Dohrn. His entrepreneurial spirit embraced the unfolding revolutions in genetics and endocrinology, and breakthroughs in animal breeding technology and fertility treatment for patients were foreshadowed by his contributions to reproductive biology. He did not, however, always enjoy a smooth ride as a researcher and science administrator, but a background in business helped him to survive the political fray to leave a scientific legacy that deserves to be celebrated.JOHN D. BIGGERS, Ph.D., D.Sc. has worked in the field of reproductive biology from 1950 and at Harvard Medical School from 1971 where he is now Emeritus Professor of Cell Biology. CAROL KOUNTZ, Ph.D. is Associate Professor Emerita of Writing, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan.