Barbara McClintock (1902 - 1992)

Born 16 Jun 1902 in Hartford, Connecticut, United States

Ancestors

Died 2 Sep 1992 at age 90 in Cold Spring Harbor, Suffolk, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Andrew Barocco [send private message]

Barbara McClintock is Notable.

Biography

Eleanor was born on June 16, 1902, to Dr. Thomas Henry and Sarah (Handy) McClintock in Hartford, Connecticut. Eleanor (later to be known as Barbara) was the third of four children.

The McClintocks moved to Brooklyn in 1908. Barbara graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1919.

Barbara wanted to go to Cornell University, but her mother worried that no one would want to marry her if she attended college. Her father intervened and she went to Cornell. Barbara graduated in 1923 from Cornell.^[1]

Barbara became interested in genetics when she took her first course in that field in 1921. A similar course was offered at Harvard University and was taught by C. B. Hutchison, a plant breeder, and geneticist. Hutchison was impressed by McClintock's interest and telephoned inviting her to participate in the graduate genetics course at Cornell in 1922. McClintock pointed to Hutchison's invitation as the reason she continued in genetics: "Obviously, this telephone call cast the die for my future. I remained with genetics thereafter. It has been reported that" women could not major in genetics at Cornell, and therefore her MA and Ph.D.—earned in 1925 and 1927, respectively—were officially awarded in botany, recent research has revealed that women did earn graduate degrees in Cornell's Plant Breeding Department during the time that McClintock was a student at Cornell."

While Barbara was in her graduate and post graduate programs she worked as a botany instructor.

McClintock played a role in assembling a group that " studied the new field of cytogenetics in maize. This group brought together plant breeders and cytologists and included Marcus Rhoades, future Nobel laureate George Beadle, and Harriet Creighton. Rollins A. Emerson, head of the Plant Breeding Department, supported these efforts, although he was not a cytologist himself."^[2]

McClintock stopped publishing her findings because the world had not caught up with her findings. The work she did flourished in the sixties and became accepted. She was a few years ahead of her time.

Honors and Awards

• She was recognized among the best in the field, awarded prestigious fellowships, and elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1944.

• National Medal of Science awarded 1970 by the President of the United States

• Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal awarded in 1981 by The Genetics Society of America

• The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry is an annual prize awarded by Columbia University to a researcher or group of researchers who have made an outstanding contribution in basic research in the fields of biology or biochemistry.

• The Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (CWHF) recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Connecticut for their significant achievements or statewide contributions.

• Dr McClintock was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1983 "for her discovery of mobile genetic elements. McClintock was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1983 for her "for her discovery of mobile genetic elements".["The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1983"]
• In 2005, the US Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor.

Genealogy

There is a notation in the Wikiwand article that Barbara's Mother Sarah is a Mayflower descendant. Sarah's 7th GGF was Richard Carver, a Puritan immigrant. John Carver was a passenger on the Mayflower but it is not clear if the two Carvers are related. John Carver had no children.

Puritan immigrants William Randall and William Parker were Barbara's 7th GGFs.

Barbara and Earl Silas Tupper were 8th cousins, which is funny considering how much Tupperware is used in genetics research for incubating gels.

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/mcclintock-barbara.pdf
2. ↑ BARBARA McCLINTOCK:A Brief Biographical Sketch

• https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:SP39-46M

• http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/mcclintock-barbara.pdf

• https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/barbara-mcclintock/

• "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJR1-WTT : accessed 17 February 2019), Barbara Mcclintock in household of Thomas H Mcclintock, Brooklyn Assembly District 21, Kings, New York, United States; citing ED 1345, sheet 7B, line 75, family 202, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1178; FHL microfilm 1,821,178.