Tracing embryonic cell lineages
Wilson followed successive cleavage divisions in embryos of Nereis worms. He examined changes in cytoplasm, spindles, asters and chromosomes, relating the emergence of embryonic form to identifiable dividing cells. Cell lineages offered a way to follow development from its early stages rather than compare only completed structures.
References: [1]
Photographing fertilization and division
In 1895 Wilson and photographer Edward Leaming published an atlas of fertilization and nuclear division, illustrated with photomicrographs of Nereis eggs. Comparing successive stages gave readers photographic evidence alongside the descriptions and drawings used in cytology.
References: [1]
Chromosomes and sex determination
At Columbia University, Wilson continued chromosome research, publishing a series of studies between 1905 and 1912. His work and Nettie Stevens’s independent research in 1905 supplied evidence linking chromosomes with sex determination. Stevens’s contribution was an independent investigation, rather than work performed as his assistant.
A textbook spanning development and heredity
The Cell in Development and Inheritance appeared in 1896, followed by a second edition in 1900. For the expanded third edition in 1925, the title became The Cell in Development and Heredity. Across these editions, Wilson used cytological findings to discuss germ cells, fertilization, chromosomes and embryonic development together.
References: [1]