Question

Barbara McClintock, Lynn Margulis (who also wrote under the name Lynn Sagan), and Angélique Arvanitaki were woman scientists working in the mid 20th century, whose ideas were all somewhat out of the mainstream in their fields. Choose one of them, describe their work, and try to work out how this work was received at the time. Are there any connections that might be made to the themes seen in feminist philosophy of science, as discussed in lecture?

All three are biologists. If you know an example from physics or chemistry and want to cover that one instead, go ahead. But don’t write about Rosalind Franklin. Her story is very well known. Choose someone else, or stick with McClintock, Margulis, or Arvanitaki. Of those three, there is much less information about Arvanitaki – this would be the harder choice.

Write 200-300 words.

Answer 1

BARBARA McCLINTOCK

She was a Cytogenetisist who worked on the chromosomes of a maize plant. Her work included the study of alteration in the size of maize chromosomes during reproduction. She studied the genetic regulation in maize plants and discovered gene transposition for which she was awarded a Nobel Prize in the year 1983. She was the best geneticist of her time. She also described the role of centromere and telomere as well as the transposition of genes. Also, she pioneered the work of ring chromosomes, genetic recombination, controlling transposable elements like Spm, Ac/Ds and the construction of a genetic map of maize. She developed the Carmine staining process to view maize chromosomes using which she visualised the crossing over during reproduction. She could map many novel genes and gene loci by using the breakage fusion bridge cycle process.

Response to her work at that time :

Her initial work was greatly appreciated and supported by everyone especially her colleagues at Cornell. Later it became difficult for people to understand and accept her research. Though she was encouraged, she was not happy with the treatment she received in Missouri. She restrained herself from publishing any further record of her work after 1953 due to the hostile nature of other scientists who gradually started alienating her from meetings.

Connections to the themes seen in feminist philosophy of science :

There were very few female scientists during this time. She was the only female President at Genetics Society of America and the 3rd female to hold the elected position at the National Academy of Science. The society was predominantly a male-dominated one.