author
Samuel Leopold Schenk
1840–1902
An Austrian embryologist and physician, he helped establish embryology as a university subject in Vienna and became widely discussed for his controversial ideas about influencing the sex of a child before birth. His work sits at the crossroads of serious scientific study and the medical debates of the late nineteenth century.
1 Audiobook
Schenk's Theory: The Determination of Sex
by Samuel Leopold Schenk
About the author
Born in Ürmény, then in Hungary, on August 23, 1840, Samuel Leopold Schenk studied medicine at the University of Vienna and earned his M.D. in 1865. He stayed there as a young researcher and teacher, working in physiology before moving into embryology, a field in which he would become one of Vienna’s best-known specialists.
Schenk is often remembered for helping give embryology a more distinct place in medical education. He became a professor at the University of Vienna and wrote on embryology, histology, and related scientific subjects, building a reputation as a productive academic physician.
He also became famous beyond academic circles for his theory that a mother’s diet could affect the sex of an unborn child. The idea brought him wide public attention, but also strong criticism from many in the medical profession. He died in Schwanberg, Styria, on August 17, 1902.