The Royal Society is the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences and the world’s oldest national scientific organization. Lehmann’s election recognizes her pioneering studies of the mechanisms underlying the embryonic development and reproduction of the fruit fly Drosophila. In particular, the Royal Society noted her work establishing the role of messenger RNA localization in specifying the antero-posterior body axis and germ line development; and her discoveries on the role of lipid-based signaling pathways in the migration of germ cells to the developing gonads.