SIR WIGGLESWORTH,VINCENT AND THE COMING OF AGE OF INSECT DEVELOPMENT

Sir Vincent Wigglesworth (1899-1994), a founder of the discipline of I nsect Physiology, was a central figure in the emergence of the concept of postembryonic insect development as sequential polymorphism regula ted by endocrine signals. At a time in mid-century when genetics and d evelopmental physiology were severely compartmentalized, he made the c onceptual linkage with the recognition that sequential polymorphism mu st have a genetic basis with gene activation regulated by internal sig nals.