Born: 6 October 1907, Germany
Died: 7 November 2007
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Salome Schönheimer
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch was a pioneering geneticist renowned for her contributions to the field of developmental genetics. Born in Danzig, Germany, she faced adversity as a Jewish woman in a male-dominated scientific community. Gluecksohn-Waelsch quietly navigated these challenges, earning her doctorate in 1932 from the University of Freiburg for groundbreaking research on embryological limb development in salamanders. Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1933 with her husband, she later joined Columbia University in 1936, where her research sought to unravel the genetic mechanisms underlying early development.
In 1953, she left Columbia and embarked on a distinguished career at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she became a full professor in 1958 and chaired molecular genetics from 1963 to 1976. Her enduring commitment to research extended into the 1990s, leaving a profound mark on the scientific community.
Gluecksohn-Waelsch passed away in New York City a month after her 100th birthday, leaving behind a lasting impact on the study of genetic mechanisms in development.