Barbara McClintock

Barbara McClintock was an American scientist and cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927. There she started her career as the leader of the development of maize cytogenetics, the focus of her research for the rest of her life. From the late 1920s, McClintock studied chromosomes and how they change during reproduction in maize. She developed the technique for visualizing maize chromosomes and used microscopic analysis to demonstrate many fundamental genetic ideas. One of those ideas was the notion of genetic recombination by crossing-over during meiosis—a mechanism by which chromosomes exchange information. She produced the first genetic map for maize, linking regions of the chromosome to physical traits. She demonstrated the role of the telomere and centromere, regions of the chromosome that are important in the conservation of genetic information. She was recognized as among the best in the field, awarded prestigious fellowships, and elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1944.

16 June 1902

Born on the same birth date (16 June 1902): George Gaylord Simpson

Born on the same birth day (16 June): Alexandre Giroux • Christian Tshimanga Kabeya • Ian Mosley • Ilmar Kullam • Irving Penn • Jim Dine • John Linnell (painter) • John Newman (singer) • Ki Hui-hyeon

Born in the same month (June 1902): Alec Hurwood • Carolyn Eisele • Eric Fraser (illustrator) • Erik Erikson • George Gaylord Simpson • Georges Van Parys • Guy Lombardo • Herman B Wells • Hugues Cuénod • Jimmie Lunceford • Paavo Yrjölä • Richard Rodgers • Sammy Fain • Skip James • Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu