Boveri gave decisive proof of the maintenance of chromosomal individuality.

Boveri’s experiments, involving multipolar mitoses in sea urchin eggs fertilized by two sperm, demonstrated that different chromosomes perform different functions in development. English translation in No. 534.3.

See No. 242.1.

Boveri argued that malignancy arises as a consequence of chromosomal abnormalities, and that multiplication is an inherent property of cells. He predicted the existence of tumor suppressor mechanisms and was perhaps the first to suggest that hereditary factors (genes) are linearly arranged along chromosomes. First English translation by Boveri's widow, Marcella O'Grady Boveri as The origin of malignant tumors. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1929. Later English translation: Concerning the origin of malignant tumours translated and annotated by Henry Harris. Cold Spring Harbor: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2008. The second translation was also published in the Journal of Cell Science, 121 (2008) 1-84. This version may be read online at this link.