McClintock, Barbara, 1902-1992

Hide Profile

Barbara McClintock was a maize geneticist who discovered "crossing over" and translocation or "jumping genes." She received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983.

Barbara McClintock, a maize geneticist, was born in Hartford, Connecticut on 16 June 1902. In 1908 her family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where her interest in science began at Erasmus Hall High School. When she finished high school in 1919, McClintock enrolled, despite her parents' opposition, at Cornell University's College of Agriculture. Since the College would not allow women to major in plant breeding, McClintock majored in botany. At the end of her junior year, after having taken a genetics course, she was invited to take the graduate course in genetics and was unofficially made a graduate student. She received her B.A. in 1923, at which time approximately 25% of the graduates from the College of Agriculture were women. She went on to receive her Ph.D. in botany in 1927; her thesis advisor was Lester Sharp, a cytology professor in the Botany Department.

McClintock remained at Cornell doing research for another four years. Then, receiving a fellowship from the National Research Council, she studied and taught at the University of Missouri, California Institute of Technology, and Cornell University between 1931 and 1933. Cornell remained her home base, even though the University did not offer her a job. (The first woman assistant professor at Cornell in a field other than home economics was not appointed until 1947.) In 1933, McClintock received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study in Germany but returned within the year due to the depressed, troubled conditions in Germany. (The geneticist Curt Stern, with whom she had been planning to study, had already left the country.)

McClintock again did research at Cornell until 1936, working in Rollins Emerson's laboratory supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. That year, she moved to the University of Missouri at Columbia, where she was Assistant Professor of Botany until 1940. At that time, not having been offered an incentive to stay, she went to Cold Spring Harbor with Marcus Rhoades where she studied maize until the following November. In December 1941, when Milislav Demerec became Director of the Department of Genetics of the Carnegie Institution of Washington at Cold Spring Harbor, he offered her a one-year position, which was later made permanent. She remained Staff Member at the Carnegie Institution until 1967, when she became Distinguished Service Member.

During her tenure at the Carnegie Institution McClintock was also Consultant (from 1962 to 1969) to the Agricultural Science Program of the Rockefeller Foundation, which funded research in maize in South America. Much of this work involved discussing research results with, among others, Takeo A. Kato Yamakake and Almiro Blumenschein, with whom she later wrote a book, Chromosome Constitution of Races of Maize.

McClintock traced genes through the changes in the colored kernels of maize. In the 1930s she discovered "crossing over," in which chromosomes break and recombine to create genetic changes. In the 1950s, she discovered the occurrence of transposable genetic elements and their effect on gene expression; that is, that genes are not fixed like pearls on a string but that they move or "jump" around. She found the first jumping gene on the short arm of chromosome 9. Because the gene broke the chromosome into two parts, she called the gene "DS" or dissociation element. She called the jumping genes "control elements" because they inactivated neighboring genes on the chromosome. The element, which causes the gene to jump, she called "AC" or activator element.

McClintock's findings were ignored, partly because the complex development patterns of maize were not as clear to everyone else (especially non-maize geneticists) as they were to her. In the 1970s, molecular biologists isolated transposable elements in bacteria and discovered that they were used by cells to control genes, revealing the same discovery that McClintock had made twenty years earlier in maize.

In time, McClintock's work was appreciated and lauded. She received many awards for her research in maize, including an Award of Merit from the Botanical Society of America (1957), the Kimber Genetics Award from the National Academy of Science (1967), the National Medal of Science (1970), the Louis and Bert Freedman Foundation Award for Research in Biochemistry (1978), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Prize (1978), the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award (1978), the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (1981), the Wolf Foundation Award (1981), the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1982), the Charles Leopold Mayer Prize (1982), and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1983). McClintock was the first woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in that category and the third woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in science.

McClintock also received numerous honorary degrees, including those from Georgetown University, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, and Yale University. She was a member of various societies, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Society of Naturalists, the Botanical Society of America, the Genetics Society of America (by which she was elected Vice President in 1939 and the first woman President in 1945), the National Academy of Sciences (she was the third woman ever elected), the National Women's Hall of Fame, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society of London.

Barbara McClintock died on 2 September 1992 at age ninety.

From the guide to the Barbara McClintock Papers, 1927-1991, (American Philosophical Society)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn William B. Provine collection of evolutionary biology reprints, 20th century. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
creatorOf McClintock, Barbara, 1902-1992. Papers, 1927-1991. American Philosophical Society Library
referencedIn Salvador E. Luria Papers, 1923-1992 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Horace Freeland Judson Collection, 1968-1978 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Mangelsdorf, Paul C. (Paul Christoph), 1899-. Papers of Paul C. Mangelsdorf, 1935-1984 (inclusive). Harvard University Archives.
referencedIn L. C. Dunn Papers, ca. 1920-1974 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf Barbara McClintock Papers, 1927-1991 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Papers of Guido Pontecorvo, personal and family photographs and negatives, c1924-2007 Glasgow University Archive Service
referencedIn Caspari, Ernst Wolfgang, 1909- . Papers, 1932-1980. American Philosophical Society Library
creatorOf Rhoades, Marcus M. (Marcus Morton), 1903-1991. Papers, 1933-1992. Indiana University
referencedIn Henry, Susan A. Susan A. Henry papers, 1990-2010. Cornell University Library
referencedIn Erwin Chargaff Papers, 1929-1992 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Ernst W. Caspari Papers, 1932-1980 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory items, [ca.1932]. Cornell University Library
referencedIn Stern, Curt, 1902-1981. Papers, [ca. 1920]-1980. American Philosophical Society Library
creatorOf McClintock, Barbara, 1902-1992. Barbara McClintock interviews, 1980. Cornell University Library
referencedIn Curt Stern Papers, 1907-1981 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Barbara McClintock file, ca. 1905-1991. New York State Historical Documents Inventory
referencedIn Papers of Guido Pontecorvo, research photos and slides, 1950s-1980s Glasgow University Archive Service
referencedIn Kass, Lee B., 1946-. Barbara McClintock and the 1926 International Botanical Congress, 1999. Cornell University Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Alberts, Bruce person
associatedWith Alberts, Bruce, Abraham Worcel, and Harold Weintraub person
associatedWith Alberts, Bruce and Keith R. Yamamoto person
associatedWith Alberts, Bruce, C. Fred Morris, David Mace, et al. person
associatedWith Albrecht-Buehler, Guenter person
associatedWith Barkan, Alice and Robert A. Martienssen person
associatedWith Beadle, George Wells, 1903-1989. person
associatedWith Bertani, G. person
associatedWith Bird, Robert McK. person
associatedWith Blackler, A. W. person
associatedWith Blumenschein, Almiro. person
associatedWith Blumenschein, Almiro and R. Vencovsky person
associatedWith Braselton, James P. person
associatedWith Brink, R. Alexander and B. Mikula person
associatedWith Brink, R. Alexander and Nancy Worner Van Schaik person
associatedWith Brink, R. Alexander and Willem H. Weyers person
associatedWith Brink, Royal Alexander, 1897- person
associatedWith Brown, William L. person
associatedWith Brown, William L. and Edgar Anderson person
associatedWith Brown, W. L. (William L.), 1913- person
associatedWith Burnham, Charles R. (Charles Russel) person
associatedWith Burr, Benjamin and Frances A. Burr person
associatedWith Burr, Benjamin, S. V. Evola, and F. A. Burr person
associatedWith Caspari, Ernst Wolfgang, 1909- . person
associatedWith Cattanach, Bruce M. person
associatedWith Chandra, H. Sharat person
associatedWith Chargaff, Erwin person
associatedWith Chen-Zhixiang and Daniel F. Klessig person
associatedWith Chomet, Paul S. person
associatedWith Chomet, Paul S., Kristine J. Hardeman, Damon Lisch, Vicki L. Chandler, and Michael Freeling person
associatedWith Chomet, Paul S., Susan Wessler, and Stephen L. Dellaporta person
associatedWith Chovnick, Arthur, Graeme H. Ballantyne, and David G. Holm person
associatedWith Chovnick, Arthur, W. Gelbart, M. McCarron, B. Osmond, E. P. M. Candido, and D. L. Baillie person
associatedWith Clevenger, Sarah person
associatedWith Coe, Edward H., Jr. person
associatedWith Coe, Edward H., Jr. and M. G. Neuffer person
associatedWith Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. corporateBody
associatedWith Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Archives. corporateBody
associatedWith Demerec, M., (Milislav), 1895-1966 person
associatedWith Döring, Hans-Peter, I. Pahl, and M. Durany person
associatedWith Dunn, L. C., (Leslie Clarence), 1893-1974 person
associatedWith Duvick, Donald N. person
associatedWith Esser, K. person
associatedWith Ewan, Joseph person
associatedWith Fedoroff, Nina person
associatedWith Fedoroff, Nina and Jeffrey A. Kingsbury person
associatedWith Fedoroff, Nina and Patrick Masson person
associatedWith Fedoroff, Nina, Patrick Masson, George Rutherford, and Jo Ann Banks person
associatedWith Fedoroff, Nina, P. Masson, and M. Strem person
associatedWith Fedoroff, Nina, Richard Surosky, and Jeffrey A. Kingsbury person
associatedWith Fincham, John R. S. and G. R. K. Sastry person
associatedWith Finnegan, D. J. person
associatedWith Flashman, S. person
associatedWith Freeling, Michael person
associatedWith Freeling, Michael and David S. K. Cheng person
associatedWith Galinat, Walton C. person
associatedWith Gearhart, John David person
associatedWith Gehring, Walter J. and Renato Paro person
associatedWith Gerstel, Daniel U. and J. A. Burns person
associatedWith Gerstel, Daniel U., J. A. Burns, and L. G. Burk person
associatedWith Gillies, C. B. person
associatedWith Glass, H. Bentley person
associatedWith Goodman, Major M. and J. S. C. Smith person
associatedWith Goodman, Major M. and William L. Brown person
associatedWith Goodman, Major M., J. S. C. Smith, and T. A. Kato Y. person
associatedWith Green, C. E. person
associatedWith Green, C. E. and K. A. Hibberd person
associatedWith Green, C. E., B. G. Gengenbach, and C. M. Donavan person
associatedWith Green, Howard and John C. Mauck person
associatedWith Green, Howard and Olaniyi Kehinde person
associatedWith Green, Melvin M. person
associatedWith Green, Melvin M. person
associatedWith Griffen, A. B. and Wilson S. Stone person
associatedWith Hanson, W. D. person
associatedWith Harlan, Jack R. person
associatedWith Hartl, Daniel L. and Susan W. Biel person
associatedWith Henry, Susan A. person
associatedWith Hess, Oswald person
associatedWith Holliday, Robin person
associatedWith Holt, H. John person
associatedWith Hougas, Robert W. person
associatedWith Hyland, Howard L. person
associatedWith Iino, Tetsuo person
associatedWith Iino, Tetsuo and Joshua Lederberg person
associatedWith Innes, John person
associatedWith Jack, Joseph W. and Burke H. Judd person
associatedWith Jacob, François and Jacques Monod person
associatedWith Jacob, François, Raquel Sussman, and Jacques Monod person
associatedWith Jain, H. K. and D. Gupta person
associatedWith Jeffreys, M. D. W. person
associatedWith Jones, Jonathan D. G., Francine M. Carland, Pal Maliga, and Hugo K. Dooner person
associatedWith Judd, B. H. person
associatedWith Judson, Horace Freeland, 1931- person
associatedWith Kass, Lee B., 1946- person
associatedWith Kato Yamakake, Takeo Angel, 1932- person
associatedWith Kato Yamakake, Takeo Angel and Almiro Blumenschein person
associatedWith Kauffman, Stuart A. person
associatedWith Kermicle, Jerry L. person
associatedWith Khouvine, Yvonne and Boris Ephrussi person
associatedWith King, Robert C. and Hiromu Akai person
associatedWith Krikorian, Abraham D. and William W. Donald person
associatedWith Lederberg, Joshua. person
associatedWith Lenat, Douglas B. person
associatedWith Lewis, Edward B., 1918-2004 person
associatedWith Luria, S. E., (Salvador Edward), 1912-1991 person
associatedWith Luria, S. E., (Salvador Edward), 1912-1991 person
associatedWith Mampell, Klaus person
associatedWith Mangelsdorf, Paul C. (Paul Christoph), 1899- person
associatedWith Marx, Jean L. person
associatedWith McClure, Marcella A. person
associatedWith Meins, Frederick, Jr. person
associatedWith Meselson, Matthew, Pamela Dunsmuir, Miriam Schweber, and Paul Bingham person
associatedWith Metz, Charles W. person
associatedWith Metz, Charles W. and M. Louise Schmuck person
associatedWith Monteiro, Warton person
associatedWith Morgan, L. V. person
associatedWith Morgan, T. H., Helen Redfield, and L. V. Morgan person
associatedWith Moses, M. J., P. A. Poorman, T. H. Roderick, and M. T. Davisson person
associatedWith Müntzing, Arne person
associatedWith Nelson, Oliver E., Jr. and Anita S. Klein person
associatedWith Nelson, Oliver E., Jr. and Hugo K. Dooner person
associatedWith Nelson, Oliver E., Jr., Edwin T. Mertz, and Lynn S. Bates person
associatedWith Nelson, Oliver E., Jr., John W. Schiefelbein, Douglas B. Furtek, Victor Raboy, Jo Ann Banks, and Nina V. Fedoroff person
associatedWith Nelson, Oliver E., Jr., Thomas D. Sullivan, and John W. Schiefelbein, Jr. person
associatedWith Nelson, Oliver Evans, Jr., 1920- person
associatedWith Neuffer, M. G. person
associatedWith Nevers, Patricia, Nancy S. Shepherd, and Heinz Saedler person
associatedWith Nicholson, G. Edward person
associatedWith Nicklas, R. Bruce person
associatedWith Nicklas, R. Bruce and René Camenzind person
associatedWith O'Brien, Stephen J., Hector N. Seuanez, and James E. Womack person
associatedWith O'Brien, Stephen J., M. E. Roelke, L. Marker, et al. person
associatedWith O'Brien, Stephen J., W. G. Nash, D. E. Wildt, M. E. Bush, and R. E. Benveniste person
associatedWith Ohta, Yasuo person
associatedWith Paigen, Kenneth person
associatedWith Paigen, Kenneth and Herbert Weinfeld person
associatedWith Paigen, Kenneth and James Felton person
associatedWith Paigen, Kenneth and Roger Ganschow person
associatedWith Paigen, Kenneth and Werner K. Noell person
associatedWith Paigen, Kenneth, Miriam Meisler, James Felton, and Verne Chapman person
associatedWith Paigen, Kenneth, Richard T. Swank, and Shiro Tomino person
associatedWith Pence, Roy J. person
associatedWith Peterson, Peter Andrew, 1925- person
associatedWith Pontecorvo, Guido Pellegrino Arrigo, 1907-1999, geneticist and Professor of Genetics, University of Glasgow person
associatedWith Potter, S. Steven, William J. Brorein, Jr., and Gerald M. Rubin person
correspondedWith Provine, William B. person
associatedWith Provine, William B., person
associatedWith Raman, K., D. B. Walden, and R. I. Greyson person
associatedWith Randolph, L. F. person
associatedWith Rasmuson, B., B. M. Westerberg, Å. Rasmuson, et al. person
associatedWith Rhoades, Marcus M. and Ellen Dempsey person
associatedWith Rhoades, Marcus M., Ellen Dempsey, and Achille Ghidoni person
associatedWith Rhoades, Marcus M. (Marcus Morton), 1903-1991. person
associatedWith Roberts, Lewis M. and Lowell S. Hardin person
associatedWith Roca, W. M. person
associatedWith Rose, Mark person
associatedWith Rouse, Irving person
associatedWith Rubenstein, I., C. A. Thomas, Jr., and A. D. Hershey person
associatedWith Safont, Julio person
associatedWith Schell, J., M. Van Montagu, A. De Picker, et al. person
associatedWith Schon, Eric A., Michael L. Cleary, Joel R. Haynes, and Jerry B. Lingrel person
associatedWith Schwartz, Drew person
associatedWith Schwartz, Drew and Craig S. Echt person
associatedWith Shapiro, James A. and Barbara Cordell person
associatedWith Shapiro, James A. and Clara Hsu person
associatedWith Shapiro, James A. and David Trubatch person
associatedWith Shapiro, James A. and N. Patrick Higgins person
associatedWith Shapiro, James Alan, 1943- person
associatedWith Sharp, Lester W. (Lester Whyland), b. 1887. person
associatedWith Shepherd, James F. person
associatedWith Singleton, Jesse Robertson person
associatedWith Smith-Keary, P. F. and G. W. P. Dawson person
associatedWith Sonneborn, T. M., (Tracy Morton), 1905-1981 person
associatedWith Sorrentino, Jennifer J. and Nancy S. Shepherd person
associatedWith Sorrentino, Jennifer J., C. O'Reilly, Zs. Schwartz-Sommer, H. Saedler, and N. S. Shepherd person
associatedWith Spradling, Allan, Mary Lou Pardue, J. J. Bonner, and J. A. Lengyel person
associatedWith Spradling, Allan, Sheldon Penman, and Mary Lou Pardue person
associatedWith Sprague, G. F. person
associatedWith Sprague, G. F. H. H. McKinney, and Lester Greeley person
associatedWith Stadler, L. J. person
associatedWith Starlinger, Peter person
associatedWith Starlinger, Peter and Hans-Peter Döring person
associatedWith Starlinger, Peter, Hans-Peter Döring, Martin Geiser, Edward Weck, Ulrike Courage-Tebbe, and Edith Tillmann person
associatedWith Steiner, Emil, Maja Koller-Wiesinger, and Rolf Nöthiger person
associatedWith Stephens, S. G. person
associatedWith Stern, Curt, 1902-1981. person
associatedWith Strobel, Edward, Pamela Dunsmuir, and Gerald M. Rubin person
associatedWith Sturtevant, A. H. person
associatedWith Sundaresan, Venkatesan and Michael Freeling person
associatedWith Taylor, J. Herbert person
associatedWith Timothy, David H., C. S. Levings III, D. R. Pring, M. F. Conde, and J. L. Kermicle person
associatedWith Walbot, Virginia and Loverine P. Taylor person
associatedWith Walbot, Virginia, Patricia Leon, and Patricia Bedinger person
associatedWith Wallace, Bruce and Thomas L. Kass person
associatedWith Weaver, Edward A. person
associatedWith Weber, David F. and Tim Helentjaris person
associatedWith Weber, David F. and Zuo-Yu Zhao person
associatedWith Weber, David F., Kevin D. Simcox, and Jeffery D. Shadley person
associatedWith Weber, David F., Tim Helentjaris, and Scott Wright person
associatedWith Weissinger, A. K., D. H. Timothy, C. S. Levings III, and Major M. Goodman person
associatedWith Wessler, Susan R. person
associatedWith Wessler, Susan R., George Baran, and Marguerite Varagona person
associatedWith Wessler, Susan R., Stephen L. Dellaporta, Irwin Greenblatt, Jerry Kermicle, and James B. Hicks person
associatedWith White, M. J. D. person
associatedWith Wildermuth, HansRudolf person
associatedWith Wilkes, Garrison person
associatedWith Witkin, Evelyn M. person
associatedWith Witkin, Evelyn M., Michael Volkert, and Donna L. George person
associatedWith Zheng, Guochang, Yang Quinglan, and Zheng Yongren person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Corn
Crossing over (Genetics)
Maize Genetics
National Medal of Science
Nobel Prizes
Plant genetics
Translocation (Genetics)
Wolf Foundation Prize
Women botanists
Women geneticists
Women in science
Women scientists
Occupation
Biologists
Botanists
Geneticists
Scientists
Activity

Person

Birth 1902-06-16

Death 1992-09-02

Americans

English

Information

Permalink: http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nx09n8

Ark ID: w6nx09n8

SNAC ID: 87551828