מקור השם שנק

Leopold Schenk (1840-1902), embryologist, born in Urmeny, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Mojmírovce, a village near Nitra, Slovakia). On completion of his medical course in the University of Vienna (1865), he became staff member of its institute of physiology, and in 1869 he was appointed lecturer on evolutionary theory. The first chair of embryology in any medical school was established in the University of Vienna for Schenk, who won fame for his extensive studies on the determination of sex in the embryonic stage. He was full professor from 1896.

Schenk's claim that the sex of a child may be predetermined by the kind of food consumed by his mother met with harsh criticism on the part of Kirchow, Munk, Roux, and others. He eventually resigned his professorship, but stoutly maintained his theory.

Schenk published: "Elements of Bacteriology" (1893); "The Determination of Sex" (1898); "Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Embryologie der Wirbeltiere" (1874); "Lehrbuch der Histologie des Menschen" (1885); "Lehrbuch der Bacteriologie" (1894); "Lehrbuch der Embriologie" (1896); "Lehrbuch der Geschlechtsbestimmung" (1901). Schenk died in Schwannberg.