Women Scientists

Barbara McClintock 1902-1992

At a glance:

the discoverer of ‘jumping genes’

Barbara McClintock was an American cytogeneticist who worked with maize plants and made fundamental discoveries about genetics, in particular that genes are not fixed but can 'jump' (be transposed) from one chromosome to another. Today this knowledge is part and parcel of GCSE biology. It explains for instance how resistance to antibiotics can be transferred between entirely different sorts of bacteria and is fundamental in understanding how evolution occurs. But her findings on gene regulation and transposition were greeted with such scepticism that in the 1950s, she made a decision to stop publishing them. Their significance went unrecognised for decades. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1983 when she was 81, for research carried out in her early forties. It is often said that recognition was denied to her because she was a woman but in truth her discovery was so radical that it was difficult for others to believe it.
Barbara McClintock

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Comments

Here is what people are saying about Barbara McClintock:

from Patricia (6:03 10/02/2010)
She was also one of the first people "noticing" telomeres (end of chromosomes)!

from phenotype (1:25 12/11/2009)
Radical 81 year old! That's how I want to be remembered too.

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