Harriet Creighton

Who was Harriet Creighton?

Harriet Baldwin Creighton 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.

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