Nettie Stevens
American geneticist (1861–1912)
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Key Takeaways
- Nettie Maria Stevens (July 7, 1861 – May 4, 1912) was an American geneticist who discovered sex chromosomes.
- When the sperm with the large chromosome fertilized eggs, they produced female offspring, and when the sperm with the small chromosome fertilized eggs, they produced male offspring.
- Early life Nettie Maria Stevens was born on July 7, 1861, in Cavendish, Vermont, to Julia (née Adams) and Ephraim Stevens.
- Her father worked as a carpenter and earned enough money to provide Nettie and her sister, Emma, with a strong education through high school.
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Source summary
WikipediaNettie Maria Stevens (July 7, 1861 – May 4, 1912) was an American geneticist who discovered sex chromosomes. In 1905, soon after the rediscovery of Mendel's paper on genetics in 1900, she observed that male mealworms produced two kinds of sperm, one with a large chromosome and one with a small chromosome. When the sperm with the large chromosome fertilized eggs, they produced female offspring, and when the sperm with the small chromosome fertilized eggs, they produced male offspring. The pair of sex chromosomes that she studied later became known as the X and Y chromosomes.
Nettie Maria Stevens was born on July 7, 1861, in Cavendish, Vermont, to Julia (née Adams) and Ephraim Stevens. In 1863, after the death of her mother, her father remarried and the family moved to Westford, Massachusetts. Her father worked as a carpenter and earned enough money to provide Nettie and her sister, Emma, with a strong education through high school.
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