Physiology/Medicine: Barbara McClintock 1983 - Seattle, WA - Nobel Laureates on Waymarking.com

Located in the Pacific Science Museum, this Memorial is on a wall with about a dozen other similar ones honoring noted scientists in the field of genetics.
Along with photos of McClintock and some ears of corn, the text of the Memorial reads:

"Barbara McClintock
Born: Hartford, Connecticut
June 16, 1902
Died: September 3, 1992

B.S. Cornell University, 1923
M.A. Cornell University, 1925
Ph.D. Cornell University, 1927

Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine, 1983

In the fall of 1921, Barbara McClintock attended the only
genetics course open to undergraduates students at Cornell.
In the winter of 1922 she wwas invited to participate in
Cornell's only other genetics course, for graduate students. The two
classes sparked her lifelong interest in genetics. After completing
her Ph.D. in 1927, McClintock remained at Cornell to begin studying
the location of maize (corn) genes on the ten chromosomes of the
corn plant.

McClintock pioneered research on the way chromosome changes affect cell characteristics. She studied linkage and crossover in chromosomes. Linkage refers to the tendency of genes on the same chromosome to be inherited together. Crossover happens when sections of two chromosomes in a pair are switched. McClintock found that crossover is a common genetic process. She also discovered mobile genetic elements. These "jumping genes" can move from one part of a chromosome to another. She hypothesized that transportation or "flipping" of mobile genes controls cell development.
McClintock held positions at Cornell and the University of Missouri before settling at the Carnegie Instituion of Washington in Cold Spring Harbour, New York, where she worked for the rest of her life. For her discovery of "jumping genes" in corn, Barbara McClintock was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1983, more than thrity-two years after she published her work on the subject.
'I've just been so interested in what I was doing that I never thought of stopping, and I just hated sleeping. I can't imagine having a better life.'
- Barbara McClintock"
The caption for the ears of corn attached to the Memorial reads:
"Each corn kernel has its own combination of genes for color and texture. An ear of corn is like a whole generation of offspring of the parent plants."

Field of Accomplishment: Physiology/Medicine Year of Award: 1983 Primary Relevant Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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