Barbara McClintock

McClintock, Barbara (1902–92), U.S. geneticist. She won the 1983 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for her discovery in the 1940s of the mobility within the chromosome of genetic elements that had been believed to be stationary. McClintock found that certain genetic material is transferred unpredictably from generation to generation, and offered a means of understanding cell differentiation. Her work, considered a great contribution to DNA research, led to greater understanding of some human and animal diseases.

See also: Genetics.