View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who was the head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute when Barbara received the Guggenheim Fellowship?
(a) Marcus Rhoades.
(b) Lewis Stadler.
(c) Richard B. Goldschmidt.
(d) Curt Stern.

2. What did the Dean at the University of Missouri tell Barbara would happen if something happened to Stadler?
(a) That they would promote her to Stadler's job.
(b) That she could take the Dean's place after he retired.
(c) That Stadler would try to get her to leave.
(d) That they would have to fire her.

3. Many mutations that were happening in the maize had never been seen before, and some of these involved gross changes in what?
(a) The productivity of the corn itself.
(b) The generation length.
(c) The arrangement of the chromosomes.
(d) The nucleolus in the cells of the corn.

4. What is the word that describes a chromosome that has two centromeres?
(a) Dichromosomic.
(b) Dicentric.
(c) Dicentromeric.
(d) Digenetic.

5. What are considered to be the mainstay of genetic research?
(a) Cells.
(b) Genes.
(c) Mutations.
(d) Chromosomes.

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. Who was the co-author with McClintock on the paper that provided conclusive evidence for the chromosomal basis of genetics?

3. What did Barbara think wasn't solvable, but was "merely a symbol"?

4. In 1936, the University of Missouri offered Barbara what kind of position?

5. What position was Barbara McClintock elected to in 1939?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was it described in the book that Barbara was born into the role of maverick and pioneer?

2. Why was the year 1944 a crucial year for Barbara McClintock and the history of genetics?

3. What were the fundamental questions of genetics during the time of the early 1930s?

4. What two people did Barbara McClintock invite to Cold Spring Harbor to outline the parallels with her own work and how was their work different from McClintock's?

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 876 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample