Harriet Creighton(1909 — 2004)
Harriet Creighton
États-Unis
7 min read
American geneticist and botanist, Harriet Creighton is celebrated for her landmark experiment conducted with Barbara McClintock in 1931, proving that genetic crossing-over corresponds to a physical exchange between chromosomes. She taught botany at Wellesley College for decades.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- 1909: Born in Delphos, Ohio
- 1931: Publication with Barbara McClintock of experimental proof of chromosomal crossing-over in maize
- This paper is considered one of the founding experiments of modern genetics
- Research and teaching career at Wellesley College (Massachusetts)
- 2004: Died at the age of 94
Works & Achievements
A landmark article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, providing the first experimental proof that genetic crossing-over corresponds to a physical exchange between chromosomes. Considered one of the most elegant experimental demonstrations in the history of biology.
A general botany textbook widely used in American universities, reflecting Creighton's commitment to education and her ability to make complex concepts in plant biology accessible to students.
A body of research conducted at Cornell on the structure and behavior of maize chromosomes during meiotic division, which provided the cytological foundation necessary to demonstrate physical crossing-over.
Anecdotes
In 1931, Harriet Creighton was only 22 years old and working on her doctoral dissertation at Cornell when she published, alongside Barbara McClintock, one of the most decisive experiments in the history of genetics. It was Thomas Hunt Morgan, Nobel laureate and towering figure in biology, who urged them to publish without delay, fearing that European researchers might reach the same conclusions first.
The ingenious trick of the experiment rested on maize plants carrying a chromosome 9 that was visually identifiable under the microscope, thanks to a distinctive knob and chromatin “node.” By observing the offspring, Creighton and McClintock could verify that each genetic exchange corresponded exactly to a visible physical exchange between chromosomes.
Despite the revolutionary significance of her discovery, Harriet Creighton chose to dedicate most of her career to teaching botany at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. There she trained generations of students over more than three decades, preferring the transmission of knowledge to the pursuit of scientific fame.
When Barbara McClintock received the Nobel Prize in 1983 for the discovery of transposons, the scientific community recalled the foundational role that Harriet Creighton had played fifty years earlier in establishing the cytological basis of genetics. The two women had proven together that heredity is rooted in real physical exchanges between chromosomes.
Primary Sources
“The results presented in this paper show that cytological crossing-over and genetical crossing-over involve the same chromosome segment. They constitute, therefore, a cytological demonstration of the occurrence of genetic crossing-over.”
Morgan urged both researchers to publish their results immediately in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stressing the urgency given competition from European laboratories.
A general botany textbook widely used in American universities, reflecting Creighton's commitment to science education and the rigorous transmission of knowledge in plant biology.
Key Places
It was at Cornell that Harriet Creighton completed her doctoral research and conducted with Barbara McClintock the landmark experiment on crossing-over. The university's botany and genetics laboratory was at the time one of the most advanced in the United States.
Harriet Creighton taught botany here for more than three decades, making this prestigious women's college a center for the transmission of scientific culture in genetics and plant biology.
A landmark institution of American genetics where Barbara McClintock, Creighton's collaborator, continued her pioneering research on maize and would later discover transposons.
Harriet Creighton's hometown, where she grew up in the American Midwest before pursuing scientific studies that would take her to the highest levels of genetics research.
