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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. What was the first name of Barbara's mother?

2. In 1944, a paper was published demonstrating that what provided the material basis for inheritance?

3. How many papers did McClintock publish between the years of 1929 and 1931?

4. There was a gap that appeared in Barbara's list of publications. In what year did she not publish anything?

5. What discovery was a great boost to cytological analysis in 1933?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Barbara adamantly reject female conventions and why was she not trying to just be "more boy than girl"?

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

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

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

6. 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?

7. How did Barbara spend her time between the years of 1931 and 1933?

8. What did T.H. Morgan tell a disappointed reader who confronted him about his book, Embryology and Genetics?

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

10. In Chapter 6, what are the three major concerns of twentieth-century biology that are mentioned?

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

How does the quote we read in Chapter 9, "to say someone is obscure is to put the burden of that failure in communication on the speaker" relate to Barbara McClintock? Why do you think so many people had a hard time understanding or believing in Barbara?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 12, Evelyn Keller asks the question, "What enabled McClintock to see further and deeper into the mysteries of genetics than her colleagues?" She then answers with words from Barbara. In your own words describe how Barbara answered this question and then also answer the question from your own point of view after reading the book.

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