LB 492 Blog

                Chapters nine through twelve of A Feeling for the Organism describe the difficulties McClintock had in sharing her newly discovered transposition genes to her colleagues and how the advancement of molecular biology supported McClintock’s findings years later. It was only until discoveries made by molecular biologists such as Peter Starlinger and Heinz Saedler, and Monod and Jacob that people began to understand and accept McClintock’s previous findings, though it was still an uphill battle for her the whole time. What I think though was the two main initial barriers that kept people from believing in McClintock’s findings were her poor communication of the findings and her lack of social relations with her colleagues. Though communicating new results to others who have no expertise in the field is difficult, the way McClintock went about it did not help either. Learning how to be able to simplify what one is trying to teach takes...

                In chapters five through eight in A Feeling for the Organism , the author talks about Barbra McClintock’s years at the University of Missouri, an overview of the development of genetics as a field and how McClintock fit in to that, her maize research at Cold Spring Harbor, and her discovery of controlled mutation in maize coloration through transposition. The chapter that stood out to me the most was chapter seven which discussed about McClintock beginning her work at Cold Spring Harbor before and during World War II. What fascinated me about it was McClintock’s thoughts on working there. It was the perfect place to grow her corn without any worries about departmental policies while also being a fixed job, something she was struggling to find. Despite all this though, she initially did not want to work there. Luckily she did since it was one of the few places during World War II that was not stuck as hard as other research labs. Ye...

                The first four chapters of A Feeling for the Organism describe the early life of Barbra McClintock, her journey in becoming a scientist, and the struggles she faced during her years of research. One of the most notable struggles that McClintock faced was being a woman in the field of science, which was especially thought of as only a man’s profession during her time. Even though she was extremely well renowned and respected, finding and holding a job was one of the greatest difficulties she had to face often. She did her best to not let such issues get in her way. She stood for her freedom as a woman in science and would often go completely against gender stereotypes to the point that many would forget that she was a woman. This is something I can relate to since I also choose to not follow most feminine standards such as always having to wear makeup, dressing pretty or sexy every day, and to be dainty in daily activities. I can e...

                  In the third chapter of Dr. Pennock’s book, he describes the necessity of skepticism in science. This kind of skepticism entails being willing to question anything to prove it right or wrong, doubt the claims of authority (meaning recognizing that a rule or theory that someone makes where their only supporting material is the idea that their authority gives them the right to make such claims is not accurate), and being critical of one’s self since we all make mistakes. Skepticism in this light relates to curiosity since it allows for truthful evidence to be made and satisfy one’s curiosity, not fool it with false claims. Dr. Pennock also describes though how skepticism can become a crippling factor for scientists instead of a benefit, as shown with his examples of Galileo and McClintock , and therefore an important type of skepticism that scientists often use that does not become dogmatic is objectivity. Even before tak...

                I chose to read an obituary of the scientist Louis Pasteur, who died the 28 th of September in 1895. In the obituary, the cause of his death was described, a short biography of his life was given, and a recount of the state wide funeral held for him. Most notably though, the obituary discussed how Pasteur impacted science, especially with the medical field by laying a scientific foundation for it which moved it from the realm of pseudo-science to a factual branch of science. He accomplished this by not only debunking the theory of spontaneous generation but also by creating the first vaccines. One thing interesting with the obituary is the fact that his virtues related to science were somewhat directly described. Some of the characteristics mentioned were his passion and savant hood in science, his desire to learn as well as teach, and his work ethic. His characteristics are similar to others of high scientific standing to the po...