Barbara McClintock

Barbara McClintock 1902-92, American geneticist. She discovered that certain genetic material, "transposable elements" or "jumping genes" (now called transposons), shifted its location in the chromosomes from generation to generation. At first ignored, her research was later recognized as a major contribution to DNA research. In 1983 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

McClintock, Barbara (1902–92) US botanist and geneticist, who joined the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute. She is best known for her discovery of `jumping genes' (see transposon), which move along a chromosome and exert control over other genes. She carried out her work with maize plants, but such controlling elements were later found in bacteria and other organisms. For this work she was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine.