Nettie Stevens was born on July 7, 1861, in Cavendish,
Vermont, just after the Civil War. The beginnings of her
life remain unclear, but it is widely accepted she taught as
a school teacher. Stevens longed for further
education
and enrolled at Standford University at the age of 35, then
Bryn Mawr College to begin doctoral studies in biology.
Stevens’ earliest field of research,
after earning her PhD, was in
morphology and taxonomy but she is
most famous for her discoveries
involving gender determination and
X/Y chromosomes. Stevens
died May 4
, 1912, Baltimore, Maryland due to
breast cancer, but her work will never
be forgotten.
Though Nettie Stevens was an intelligent, accomplished scientist, her research in gender determination was originally rejected by dominating male scientists in her field. Ultimately, Stevens was given praise for her discoveries, but many lack knowledge of her contributions.
CAPTION: THE LEFT IMAGE IS OF
NETTIE STEVENS’ MICROSCOPE AT
BRYN MAWR COLLEGE. THE
INSTRUMENT IS “MUCH VALUED AND
TREASURED AND AFFECTIONATELY
KNOWN AS THE ‘NETTIE MARIA’.”
NETTIE STEVENS’ MICROSCOPE AT
BRYN MAWR COLLEGE. THE
INSTRUMENT IS “MUCH VALUED AND
TREASURED AND AFFECTIONATELY
KNOWN AS THE ‘NETTIE MARIA’.”
As true for countless
college globally at the time,
the year Stevens graduated
from Stanford, enrollment
of women was capped at
500 students as the
founders worried it would
become a
girls-only college.
Stevens additionally faced rejection from several
prestigious institutions across the country prior to her
graduation at Stanford solely because she was a
woman. To make matters worse, in Stevens’ time,
women
who sought higher education were expected to
forfit paid employment after marriage.
