Barbara McClintock
American · 1902–1992
Cytogeneticist and Nobel laureate who discovered genetic transposition, vindicated decades later after persistent resistance from the scientific establishment, exemplifying the virtues of patience and deep attention in scientific inquiry.
Wikipedia ↗“If you know you are on the right track, if you have this inner knowledge, then nobody can turn you off. No matter what they say.”
English
“I was just so interested in what I was doing I could hardly wait to get up in the morning and get at it. One of my friends, a geneticist, said I was a child, because only children can't wait to get up in the morning to get at what they want to do.”
English
“You have to have a feeling for the organism. You have to understand how it grows, understand its parts, understand when something is going wrong with it. You need to have a feeling for every individual plant.”
English
“When you suddenly see the problem, something happens that you have the answer — before you are able to put it into words. It is all done subconsciously. This has happened too many times to me, and I know when to trust it.”
English
“I found that the more I worked with the chromosomes, the bigger and bigger they got, and when I was really working with them I wasn't outside, I was down there. I was part of the system.”
English
“No two plants are exactly alike. They aren't, they just aren't, and I know every one of them. I start with the seedling, and I don't want to leave it. I don't feel I really know the story if I don't watch the plant all the way along.”
English