Charlotte Auerbach - Curious Edinburgh

Mutagenesis Research Unit, Institute of Animal Genetics

Jul 242017

Crew Laboratory, King’s Buildings, EH9 3JN

The Mutagenesis Research Unit of the Institute of Animal Genetics was established in 1958 with Medical Research Council funding. The director of the Unit, Charlotte Auerbach (1899-1994), had arrived at the Institute in 1933 after fleeing the Nazi regime in Germany. She was introduced to mutagenesis research by future Nobel Laureate Hermann J. Muller, during a research visit to Edinburgh. During the Second World War, Auerbach and the pharmacologist J.M. Robson made the groundbreaking discovery that mustard gas causes mutations to the chromosomes. The former Unit building is now renamed the Crew Laboratory and houses the Institute of Atmospheric and Environmental Science, part of the School of GeoSciences.

Charlotte Auerbach, c.1955.

New Curious Edinburgh tours

On October 23 we will be officially launching our newest tour on the History of Witchcraft in Edinburgh during an event at the Edinburgh Futures Institute starting at 3pm. Please register here and hope to see you there!

On International Women’s Day 2024, we launched a new tour featuring locations in Edinburgh connected to amazing women in STEM. Celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion in STEM by taking a look at Edinburgh-connected women who have made an impact in a wide range of STEM fields.

Check out our new bird trail! We are currently working on the development of coastal trails, in collaboration with Traveltech for Scotland and the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy Scotland’s Coastal Knowledge map. Here you can upload your own experiences of the coast, including birds you have spotted.

Last year we added the Second World War tour developed by academics from the schools of Social and Political Science and History, Classics and Archeology.