American biologist 1861-1912

Nettie Maria Stevens was a prominent biologist who discovered that the sex of an organism was determined by a specific chromosome. Although her research career spanned less than a decade (1903-1912), she published forty papers and became one of the first American women to achieve recognition for her contributions to scientific research.

Stevens was born July 7, 1861 in Cavendish, Vermont. She graduated from the Westford Academy in 1880 and enrolled at the Westfield Normal School, a educator college founded to cerify teachers, in 1881. She received the highest scores on the college's entrance exams of any student in her class. Clearly an outstanding student, she earned the four-year teacher certification in just two years.

In 1883, Stevens graduated from Westfield Normal School with the highest academic scores in her class. After graduation she took a job as a librarian at a high school in Lebanon...