Lewis Wolpert

Developmental biologist; author and broadcaster

Lewis Wolpert is a developmental biologist, author and broadcaster. Born in South Africa, Wolpert studied as an engineer in Johannesburg before moving to Imperial College London and then King’s College London. He is well known in his field for elaborating and championing the ideas of positional information and positional value at molecular levels within cells. His research interests are in the mechanisms involved in the development of the embryo.

Wolpert was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1980 and awarded the CBE in 1990. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999 and has been elected Vice-President of the British Humanist Association. He is Emeritus Professor of Biology as applied to Medicine in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at University College London.