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When was it born?
7 July 1861 was born -
Who is it?
She was the first researcher to describe the chromosomal basis of sex determination. She successfully expanded the fields of embryology and cytogenetics. -
Period: to
When did you start studying/work?
Nettie stevens started to study/work and left in 1906. -
Early years
In Westford, Nettie attended public school, where she quickly discovered her intellectual abilities. She completed a four-year course at Westfield Normal School in Massachusetts in two years. She graduated at the top of her class. -
Bachelor's and Master's degrees
He was unable to return to school until 1896 when, at the age of 35, he enrolled at Stanford University, where he completed his bachelor's degree in 1899, completed his master's studies in 1900 and wrote his doctoral thesis, which was his first published work. -
Chromosomes
Her excellent results led to the scientist being awarded a scholarship to study abroad. She travelled to Europe between 1901 and 1902 to broaden her research experience. She worked intensively at the Zoological Station in Naples and also spent time at the Zoological Institute of the University of Würzburg, -
PhD
In 1903, she received her PhD from Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the same faculty as two of the great biologists of the time, and Morgan added her to his research team and personally directed her work. -
X and Y chromosomes
Stevens found that the female somatic cells contained twenty large chromosomes, i.e. ten large pairs, while the male cells contained nineteen large and one small, i.e. nine pairs of large chromosomes and one pair consisting of one large and one small chromosome. -
Edmund Beecher Wilson
The biologist Edmund Beecher Wilson was conducting his own research on sex determination at the same time as Stevens, and in 1905 he published his results, which coincided with those obtained by the scientist. -
Recent years
Following her 1905 monograph, Nettie Stevens continued her research on the chromosomes of other insect species. In 1908, she published a paper on the germ cells of Diptera that laid the foundations for the future cytogenetics of Drosophila. -
Ellen Richards Award
In 1905, Nettie Stevens won a position at Bryn Mawr as an associate professor of experimental morphology, and in the same year she received the Ellen Richards Award for her paper "The History of Morphology". -
Incorrect attribution to Wilson and Morgan
Wilson has often been credited with this discovery, but many experts in the field now doubt that this was the case.1011 Although Wilson published results similar to those of Stevens, but obtained with other insects. -
Article by T. H. Morgan
After his death, Thomas H. Morgan published an extensive biographical sketch in the journal Science, reviewing his career and most important contributions and concluding: -
Death
She died on 4 May 1912 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, of breast cancer, before she could benefit from the research professorship created specifically for her so that she could devote herself solely to research at Bryn Mawr College and work at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. -
Acknowledgements
Nettie stevens held 3 Ellen Richards Awards, T. H. Morgan Article, National Women's Hall of Fame