A Wigglesworth classic: how cells make patterns.

In January 1940, London was not the most peaceful place in the world, but it was in that month that V. B. Wigglesworth, known to entomologists as VBW, submitted one of his best papers to The Journal of Experimental Biology. VBW was an exceptional scientist in many ways. He was original, reflective and a superb experimentalist, and made the field of insect physiology almost single handed. He published 264 papers (all but a few, single author works) and wrote 9 books (including the renowned work, The Principles of Insect Physiology) in a long life (Lawrence and Locke, 1997; Locke, 1994). He was not a salesman — yet he wrote his papers in a simple and direct style that a first year student could understand. It is hard to think of anyone who was more unlike most successful modern scientists, yet who made so many important discoveries. This paper, ‘Local and general factors in the development of ‘pattern’ in Rhodnius prolixus (Hemiptera)’ (Wigglesworth, 1940), epitomises what was unique about his scientific approach.