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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. How many parts are in the process of transposition?

2. Who asked Barbara how she could have worked "for two years without knowing what was going to come out?"

3. What did Barbara think when she found that Drosophila that were affected by radiation were more vigorous than the standard Drosophila?

4. In Chapter 7, Esther Parker had bought a farm that was located how many miles north of Ithaca?

5. What did Einstein call a deep reverence for nature?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did George Beadle tell Warren Weaver of the Rockefeller Foundation about Barbara's visit to Stanford?

2. How did Milislav Demerec describe what the view of genes was in 1941?

3. In the early twentieth century what kind of science did biology transform into and what kind of science had it been before that?

4. Among the plants in Barbara's very first crop there was one that was particularly noteworthy. Why?

5. How did Max Delbruck put Cold Spring Harbor on the map and for whom?

6. Describe how the information or data that Barbara had collected filled her office.

7. Why did Freeman Dyson state that Richard Feynman was unable to communicate and hard to understand?

8. How did Barbara arrange to get an invitation to Cold Spring Harbor?

9. What is the example involving Love Canal that Barbara tries to explain relating to scientists and engineers?

10. During the time of the 1960s and 1970s what new honors did Barbara recieve from the larger world of biology?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Do you think Evelyn Keller did a good job in describing what type of person Barbara McClintock was? How did Keller do at describing scientific jargon or vocabulary to the average reader? How did Keller touch each part of McClintock's life in her book? Explain your answers and use specific information from the book to support your explanations.

Essay Topic 2

Describe Sara McClintock (Barbara's mother). What struggles did Sara McClintock have to face while raising her family? Compare and contrast Sara McClintock and her daughter, Barbara McClintock.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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