McClintock's work at the chromosomal level would reveal mechanisms of replication and informational exchange that could not be reduced to the gene or molecular level of nature. At the time, genes were only theoretical entities postulated due to theory they had not been directly observed. During the 1920s and '30s the world of genetics was focused on the chromosome. She entered Cornell in 1919, studying the chromosomes of the Drosophila fruit fly and corn, the only two species whose chromosomes were regularly studied at the time. It was only rediscovered after Mendel in 1900, two years before McClintock was born.
We discover that early in the 1920s, genetics was a kind of standalone science. The book begins with a historical overview of the culture of the genetics community and related sciences from the 1920s through the 1980s, the vast stretch of time over which McClintock's work took place. She decided to explore the life of this unusual woman and scientist, telling McClintock's story in her own words and the words of those who knew her. The author of the book, Evelyn Keller, is a geneticist herself who learned of McClintock's pivotal work as she passed through graduate school. A Feeling for the Organism is the story of the rise, marginalization and rediscovery of Barbara McClintock and her crucially important work in cytology and genetics, which ultimately led to a revolution in the understanding of the human genome.
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