Barbara McClintock

          The 1900s was an exciting time for genetics. Mendel’s laws of inheritance were just beginning to take root in the realm of science. In the midst of the progression of genetics, there was Barbara McClintock. She was born in 1902. She was a bit of a tomboy. This made her an outcast with both the girls and boys she grew up around. She didn’t let it bother her too much. Barbara preferred being by herself and doing her schoolwork. Her teachers thought she was an exceedingly bright child, and they encouraged her to go on to college. With the support of her father, she eventually earned her PhD in botany at Cornell University in 1927.

Cornell marked the beginnings of her scientific career. Barbara absolutely loved genetics. It fascinated her to no end. In her first major research project, she worked with Harriet Creighton, and together they proved chromosomal crossover. Chromosomal crossover occurs sex cells. What happens is that genes are shuffled to make new combinations of genes. This is why organisms show different genetic variations from their fellow species. This process was theorized by Thomas Morgan, but Barbara and Harriet provided the first conclusive proof of chromosomal crossover. Barbara went on to work at the University of Missouri. Despite Barbara’s hard work and great skills as a geneticist, she never was truly accepted. Her male peers found her intimidating. Even her fashion, which mostly consisted of pants, was criticized. The dean of the university thought that Barbara should act like a “proper lady scientist” and get married. However, if she did, she would be fired. Barbara decided to leave Cornell to do research in Cold Spring Harbor in New York.

This is where Barbara’s life starts getting really exciting. She was studying corn genes. She was curious why is it that sometimes the kernels on the same corn were different colors. When she was researching this phenomenon, she found that the genes expressing the kernels color “jumped!” This was a huge discovery. Before this, it was thought that chromosomes were stable, and that the genes stayed in certain places. These jumping genes, or transposons, would cause relocations, insertions, and deletions. In the corn kernels, the relocation of certain genes would turn the purple color on or off. Barbara presented her research in 1951. Sadly, she was ahead of her time. No one understood her methods, so they didn’t take stock in her research. She didn’t mind too much. She believed in her results. It would take two decades for scientists to start taking her work seriously. She eventually won a Nobel Peace Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983. She lived her remaining years doing what she loved most; research.

As a female scientist, Barbara had to work hard to be accepted. Yet, acceptance was never truly her goal in life. She wanted to learn, and she wanted to set an example for young girls everywhere. She wanted to show them that it doesn’t matter what other people think. She wanted them to know that they were born to make history. Women continue to break boundaries. It’s amazing how far we have come, but we still have more work to do.

Sources

Barbara McClintock: http://www.famousscientists.org/barbara-mcclintock/

Barbara McClintock Facts: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1983/mcclintock-facts.html

 The Barbara McClintock Papers: https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/LL/p-nid/45