After finishing A Feeling for the Organism, I found it interesting how Barbara McClintock was such a large part of genetics, and yet as a student I have not really heard of her. I find this is often the case for female scientists; for some reason, when learning of scientific discoveries, female scientists are often excluded. Reading and learning of female scientists should be done more often by students because it shows younger generations — especially the females — that they can do great things. Although the topic of McClintock’s work and how being a woman influenced it, was not in readily addressed in these last few chapters, I still feel it is important to remember that it did influence her and how people saw her.
Another thing that I found really interesting while reading the ending of this biography was how continuously throughout her life, Barbara McClintock was determined to never give up. McClintock presented her ideas multiple times at symposiums, and each of these times people rejected her ideas and discoveries — they believed her to be “mad,” since they didn’t understand the subject she was discussing. However, no matter how many times her ideas were rejected by fellow scientists, McClintock continued to work hard and she continued to try and make her work more presentable (understandable). This is really inspiring to me, and I am sure to a lot of others as well. Seeing someone whose ideas are pushed aside and considered “mad” rise up and fight for what she discovered, shows people that if you work hard and know something is right, and others try and reject your discovery, don’t give up, keep going and work hard to show people the hard work that you have accomplished. McClintock’s ways of performing research and making her discoveries seemed strange to others during her time, but to me it just shows how truly invested in her work she was. She got to know the organisms that she was working with, and though the work that she has done you can really see how passionate she is able this work. This passion is what makes her such a great scientists, and I believe makes her a great role model to future generations.
Another thing that I found really interesting while reading the ending of this biography was how continuously throughout her life, Barbara McClintock was determined to never give up. McClintock presented her ideas multiple times at symposiums, and each of these times people rejected her ideas and discoveries — they believed her to be “mad,” since they didn’t understand the subject she was discussing. However, no matter how many times her ideas were rejected by fellow scientists, McClintock continued to work hard and she continued to try and make her work more presentable (understandable). This is really inspiring to me, and I am sure to a lot of others as well. Seeing someone whose ideas are pushed aside and considered “mad” rise up and fight for what she discovered, shows people that if you work hard and know something is right, and others try and reject your discovery, don’t give up, keep going and work hard to show people the hard work that you have accomplished. McClintock’s ways of performing research and making her discoveries seemed strange to others during her time, but to me it just shows how truly invested in her work she was. She got to know the organisms that she was working with, and though the work that she has done you can really see how passionate she is able this work. This passion is what makes her such a great scientists, and I believe makes her a great role model to future generations.