Nettie Stevens, Nettie Stevens’ 155th birthday

Nettie Stevens, Nettie Stevens’ 155th birthday 

Nettie Stevens, Nettie Stevens’ 155th birthday 

Nettie Stevens, Nettie Stevens’ 155th birthday 

Nettie Stevens’ 155th birthday

?What are the genetics behind gender

This simple question drove the work of Nettie Stevens. Building on research by Edmund Beecher Wilson and Thomas Hunt Morgan at Bryn Mawr, Stevens discovered the connection between chromosomes and physicality. Her breakthrough evolved into the XY sex-determination system, now taught in classrooms around the world.

Stevens died of breast cancer 155 years ago, but her discovery lives on in today’s Doodle