Maize genetics through the lens of many disciplines: The career of George Beadle

Abstract

Core Ideas George Beadle was a first‐generation college who eventually won the Nobel Prize. Beadle had a central interest in the function of genes and the origin of maize. Driven by big questions, Beadle collaborated across biological disciplines to answer them. Beadle used three different organisms in his research to see several sides of the same problem. Beadle showed incredible tenacity in circling back decades later to confirm maize origins.