Nettie Stevens, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Nettie Stevens

American geneticist

Date of Birth: 07-Jul-1861

Place of Birth: Cavendish, Vermont, United States

Date of Death: 04-May-1912

Profession: zoologist, biologist, geneticist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

Nettie Maria Stevens (July 7, 1861 – May 4, 1912) was an early American geneticist credited with the discovery of sex chromosomes.
In 1905, soon after the rediscovery of Mendel's paper on genetics in 1900, she observed that male mealworms produced two kinds of sperm, one with a large chromosome and one with a small chromosome.
When the sperm with the large chromosome fertilized eggs, they produced female offspring, and when the sperm with the small chromosome fertilized eggs, they produced male offspring.
The pair of sex chromosomes that she studied later became known as the X and Y chromosomes.