Photo: Smithsonian Institution/Science Service, restored by Adam Cuerden, Public domain — Source
American cytogeneticist who discovered genetic transposition — the ability of genes to change position on chromosomes — decades before the scientific community accepted the idea. Working with maize at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, she identified 'jumping genes' in the 1940s and 1950s, but her findings were largely dismissed until molecular biology confirmed them in the 1960s-70s. She received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983, the first woman to win the prize unshared. Her work fundamentally reshaped our understanding of genetics and gene regulation.
Source: Nobel Prize