Eleanor McClintock was born in Hartford, Connecticut back in 1902 to Thomas and Sara. She could trace her ancestry back to an old American who made the journey on the Mayflower to the New World. She was described as a tomboy and being an independent and solitary child. She and her father were close but had a very difficult relationship with her mother beginning at an early age.
The family moved to Brooklyn in 1908 where she graduated from Erasmus Hall High School. she continued her education at Cornell, studying agriculture, she became fond of jazz and botany receiving her BS in 1923. She continued her studies concentrating on something which she will forever be written down in the history books for (more on that shortly). She received her PhD in 1927 from Cornell.
In 1930 she was the first person to describe the cross-shaped interaction of homologous chromosomes. She was awarded several postdoctoral fellowships from the National Research Council. She died in 1992 at 90.
So, you may be asking yourself why is James writing about her? As usual I’m so glad you did for you see this is the rest of the story. in 1983 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of genetic transportation, she is the only woman to receive an unshared Nobel Prize in that category. Hope all of you didn’t celebrate too much last night. To all I wish you health, happiness and a prosperous New Year
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