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In 1930 I was first to describe the cross-shaped pairing of homologous chromosomes in meiosis; in 1931, with Harriet Creighton, I showed that physical chromosome exchange matches the recombination of genetic traits — proof the science had only hypothesised.

From 1944 I traced the mosaic colour of maize kernels to two interacting loci, Dissociation (Ds) and Activator (Ac), and in 1948 showed both could transpose on the chromosome — the research that founded the science of mobile genetic elements.

I am a cytogeneticist. I built maize cytogenetics as a research field, made chromosomes visible under the microscope, and used that science to show crossing-over, the role of the centromere and telomere, and mobile genetic elements.