4. Barbara McClintock
This American geneticist got her start at Cornell in 1921, where she discovered her love for genetics.27 years later, in 1948, she discovered that parts of the genetic code in maize could change positions on chromosomes, which nobody had unearthed before. Other scientists were hostile to this discovery and many didn’t believe her. Despite continuing her research, she stopped publishing research papers in 1953. However, in the late 1960s, professionals in her field realized how significant her research was, and she became the only woman to win her own Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983. Despite making such an iconic achievement, she said her greatest joy was discovering a secret that only she knew.
