Abstract

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 at times made these images hugely controversial, but they are also routine. We tend to take them for granted. Yet 250 years ago human development was still nowhere to be seen. The talk will explore how developing embryos were first drawn and modelled. It will then trace how the resulting pictures and models became the dominant representations of pregnancy and sometimes also of the history of life on earth, and follow their more recent incarnations as prominent symbols of biomedical 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.

Admission is free and there will a post-talk drinks reception.