Barbara McClintock’s A-Maize-ing Career Saw Triumph After Three Decades of Doubt
Barbara McClintock was an American scientist and a pioneer in the field of cytogenetics. She is credited with the discovery of genetic transposition, or “jumping genes,” which showed that genes are responsible for switching the physical traits of an organism on or off. Her studies on maize (corn) were years ahead of their time and considered too radical to be taken seriously by her peers…