Question 1

True or false: Stevens used mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) as her primary research organism.

Accepted Answer

True. She studied mealworm chromosomes, observing distinct X and Y chromosomes in males, a breakthrough in genetics.

Question 2

True or false: Her discovery was immediately celebrated and widely credited during her lifetime.

Accepted Answer

False. Much of the credit went to Edmund Wilson, who independently reached similar conclusions; Stevens’ work was often overlooked.

Question 3

True or false: Nettie Stevens discovered that sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1905, Stevens showed that female mealworms had XX and males had XY, linking chromosomes to sex determination.

Question 4

True or false: She was awarded the Nobel Prize for her work on sex determination.

Accepted Answer

False. Stevens was never nominated for a Nobel; the prize went to Thomas Hunt Morgan, who built on her work.

Question 5

True or false: Nettie Stevens earned her PhD at age 40, later than most scientists of her era.

Accepted Answer

True. She got her PhD in 1903 from Bryn Mawr College, after teaching high school for years to fund her education.

Question 6

True or false: She published over 40 research papers before the age of 30.

Accepted Answer

False. Stevens only published about a dozen papers total, as she started her research career late due to financial constraints.

Question 7

True or false: She was the first woman to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Accepted Answer

False. Florence Rena Sabin was the first woman elected to the NAS in 1925; Stevens died in 1912 before that.

Question 8

True or false: Stevens originally studied marine biology before switching to genetics.

Accepted Answer

True. Her early research focused on marine organisms like sea squirts, later pivoting to heredity under Edmund Wilson’s mentorship.

Nettie Stevens Trivia Questions