The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock's Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control by Nathaniel C. Comfort

From the Publisher

This biographical study illuminates one of the most important yet misunderstood figures in the history of science. Barbara McClintock (1902-1992), a geneticist who integrated classical genetics with microscopic observations of the behavior of chromosomes, was regarded as a genius and as an unorthodox, nearly incomprehensible thinker. In 1946, she discovered mobile genetic elements, which she called "controlling elements." Thirty-seven years later, she won a Nobel Prize for this work, becoming the third woman to receive an unshared Nobel in science. Since then, McClintock has become an emblem of feminine scientific thinking and the tragedy of narrow-mindedness and bias in science.

Using McClintock's research notes, newly available correspondence, and dozens of interviews with McClintock and others, Comfort argues that McClintock's work was neither ignored in the 1950s nor wholly accepted two decades later. Nor was McClintock marginalized by scientists; throughout the decades of her alleged rejection, she remained a distinguished figure in her field. Comfort replaces the "McClintock myth" with a new story, rich with implications for our understanding of women in science and scientific creativity.

Library Journal

Barbara McClintock received the Nobel prize in 1983 at age 81 for her work in corn genetics. Evelyn Fox Keller's biography of McClintock, A Feeling for the Organism, was published that same year. This current study by the deputy director of the Center for History of Recent Science, George Washington University, argues that Keller's description of McClintock's milieu and, indeed, McClintock's own description of her role in scientific society were often at odds with reality. Comfort suggests that rather than being a loner and maverick who served as a target of bias and narrow-mindedness, McClintock was always well respected and remained a distinguished figure in the scientific community until her death in 1992. The author develops several themes to explain McClintock's life, among them her need for independence and control over her own work. He also goes to great pains to explain the significance of her work at each stage. What he does not demonstrate is whether there really was substantial understanding of her work at the time that it was done. Certainly, after major development in related fields such as molecular biology, her early ideas were more appreciated. Regardless, this is an interesting work that provides insight into McClintock's work and personality. For academic libraries. Hilary D. Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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