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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who said, "For us, neither the chemical code, nor the linkage map of the chromosome, nor the genes embodied in it, are enough"?

2. A problem that had caught Barbara's fancy was a small body on the end of what chromosome?

3. Who was the Vice President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1937?

4. What were the first chromosomes visible as?

5. Chromosomes became shorter and thicker during the first stage of what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did James A. Peters say about the paper that Harriet Creighton and Barbara McClintock wrote?

2. What does C.D. Darlington remind his colleagues of in the opening pages of Recent Advances in Cytology?

3. Why did Barbara experience long-term consequences because of the absence of a professional niche?

4. What happened when Barbara signed up for a large overload of classes at Cornell and why did she do it?

5. What happened to Barbara a little more than a year after her brother, Tom, was born?

6. An excerpt from Frank Hanson's informal notes about Barbara McClintock are found in Chapter 4. How does Hanson describe Barbara's physical appearance?

7. What are some things that were described in Chapter 5 that Barbara did that "irk the authorities" at Missouri?

8. What are the different stages of mitosis?

9. What did Barbara do when she heard of people that were being hired as associate professors that didn't have the same credentials as herself, yet she remained an assistant professor?

10. In 1931, why did Barbara start to feel like it was time to leave Cornell?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

This book was a biography written by Evelyn Keller, therefore it's a book about Barbara McClintock that was written by someone else. How do you think this book would have been different if McClintock would have written it herself? What are some events or people that you think would have been described differently had McClintock written the book herself? Explain your answers and use specific information from the book to support your views

Essay Topic 2

Describe how Barbara's parents had an influence on her growing up and as an adult. Where do you think Barbara got her independence and scientific mind from?

Essay Topic 3

During the course of her life, Barbara McClintock had to deal with a lot of prejudices just because she was a woman. How would her life have been different had she been a man? Do you think she ever regretted the fact that she was a woman? Why or why not? Do you think women today still face certain barriers and "glass ceilings"? Explain your reasoning.

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