Women authors in the first 50 years of DGE-contributions and research topics

Wilhelm Roux promoted the newly emerged field of developmental mechanics by establishing the journal ‘Archiv für Entwicklungsmechanik’, currently known as ‘Development, Genes and Evolution’. The founder and supporters of the journal were all men, as were the authors in the first 3 years of the journal’s existence. We therefore addressed the question—in what ways did women scientists contribute to this new research field and what impact did they have. By investigating the careers and research environment of women authors in the first 50 years of the journal, we show that women contributed to all research areas of developmental mechanics and shaped its future direction.