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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. When Barbara went to visit Stadler in Missouri, she went to look at the corn that they had. Barbara noticed that they were calling the corn what?

2. In Hanson's informal notes concerning Barbara, he claims that she weighed approximately how many pounds?

3. What was the name of the cytology professor that gave Barbara private courses on Saturdays?

4. What did the Dean at the University of Missouri tell Barbara would happen if something happened to Stadler?

5. What was the word or words that Barbara used in the book to describe a plant that was part dominant and part recessive?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were Barbara's "personality difficulties" as described by T. H. Morgan?

2. What happened when Barbara discovered a way to identify maize chromosomes when she was working as a paid assistant to a cytologist?

3. When Ross Harrison gave his retirement speech from the vice presidency of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1937, what did he state the embryologist was more concerned with?

4. Describe Barbara's temperament as a child and what happened because of it.

5. What happened the time that Barbara was out playing basketball or volleyball in the neighborhood and a woman called her over to her house?

6. What are the three stages of prophase in meiosis?

7. What award did Brandeis University give McClintock and what was the award for?

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

9. Who was the person that came to Cornell to get his PhD in genetics, why did he come to Cornell, and what was his previous experience?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Barbara visited Germany, she was faced with much sadness and turmoil because it was during the time of World War II and Hitler's reign. How do you think this experience affected Barbara and influenced her over the course of her life? Do you think this experience made her a better person? A better scientist? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Describe how Barbara McClintock broke free "of the hidden constraints of tacit assumptions" and allowed "the results of [her] experiments to speak for themselves."

Essay Topic 3

Describe Barbara McClintock. What were some of her strengths and weaknesses? How do you picture Barbara from descriptions in the book? What kind of inner qualities did Barbara possess that made her a good scientist? Explain your answers and use specific information from the book to support your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 904 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample