Harriet Creighton

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

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

Career
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.

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.

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

Key Publication

.