Harriet Creighton

Harriet Baldwin Creighton (27 June 1909 – January 9, 2004) was an American botanist, geneticist and educator.

Born in Delavan, Illinois, Creighton graduated from Wellesley College in 1929, and went on to complete her Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1933.

During her time at Cornell she worked in the field of maize cytogenetics with Barbara McClintock, the pair published a very influential paper in 1931 in which they described chromosomal crossover for the first time. This paper, part of her Ph.D. research, provided key evidence that chromosomes carried and exchanged genetic information and hence that genes for physical traits are carried on chromosomes. Barbara McClintock guided her Ph.D. research.^[1]

After completing her Ph.D. she taught at Cornell University and Connecticut College, and then returned to Wellesley College where she taught until her retirement in 1974; taking time from her career to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II.^[2]

Creighton was elected in 1940 a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.^[3] In 1956 she was elected president of the Botanical Society of America.^[2]

Key Publication

Creighton, HB; McClintock, B (August 1931). "A Correlation of Cytological and Genetical Crossing-Over in Zea Mays". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 17 (8): 492–7. Bibcode:1931PNAS...17..492C. doi:10.1073/pnas.17.8.492. PMC 1076098. PMID 16587654..

• Wellesley Wire: "Harriet Creighton, long-time professor of botany, dies" (January 29, 2004) Archived July 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine;
• Kass, Lee (2005). "Harriet B. Creighton: Proud Botanist". Plant Science Bulletin. 51 (4): 118–125. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2017-10-30.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Kass, Lee (2005). "Harriet B. Creighton: Proud Botanist". Plant Science Bulletin. 51 (4): 118–125. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2017-10-30.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)**Kass, Lee B. 2005c, Plant Science Bulletin: "Harriet B. Creighton: Proud botanist" 51(4): 118–125. Available online, December 2005:
• Kass, Lee B. 2007a. "Women Pioneers in Plant Biology" – Barbara McClintock (1902–1992)" — American Society of Plant Biologists website, Ann Hirsch editor, published online February 2007
  • Kass, Lee B. 2007b. "Women Pioneers in Plant Biology" – Barbara McClintock (1902–1992)" — American Society of Plant Biologists website, Ann Hirsch editor, published online March 2007]
• Kass, L. B. and Chomet, P. 2009. Barbara McClintock, Pgs. 17–52, in J. Bennetzen and S. Hake, Editors, Handbook of Maize: Genetics and Genomics. Springer
• Macmillan Science Library: Plant Sciences – Bookrags: "Harriet Creighton: American Botanist"
• Kalte, Pamela M. and Nemeh, Katherine H. (2005) "Creighton, Harriet Baldwin (1909–)" American Men & Women of Science: A biographical directory of today's leaders in physical, biological and related sciences (22nd ed.) Thomson Gale, Detroit
• McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch (1998) Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries Carol Publishing Group, New Jersey