1983年生理学(或医学)诺贝尔奖金获得者是时年81岁的美国女科学家巴巴拉·麦克林托克。她在美国纽约冷泉港实验室工作,研究遗传学。四十年前,她种了一块玉米地,经过研究和观察,认为玉米染色体内的基因可以从一个位置移到另一个位置上,并使这个位置附近的基因关闭起来。她的这个观点在1951年宣布时,科学家们并无多大兴趣,他们认为染色体上的基因像一串珠子一样牢牢固定在一个地方,是不会移动的。直到近十年来,她的研究成果才得到证实。科学家们认为她的这项研究成果可以帮助解释许多自然界中出现的遗传变异现象,如一些疾病的原因;细菌对抗菌素是怎样 Physiological (or medical) Nobel Prize winner in 1983 was the 81-year-old American female scientist Barbara McClintock. She works in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, USA, and studies genetics. Forty years ago, she planted a piece of cornfield. After researching and observing, she thought that genes in the maize chromosome could be moved from one location to another and shut down the gene near this location. When her view was proclaimed in 1951, scientists were not much interested in seeing the genes on chromosomes remain firmly in place as a string of beads and would not move. Until the past decade, her research results have been confirmed. Scientists believe her research could help explain the genetic variation that occurs in many natural worlds, such as the causes of some diseases and how bacteria react to antibiotics