Ruth Sager

Ruth Sager
BornFebruary 7, 1918
DiedMarch 29, 1997(1997-03-29) (aged 79)
Alma materUniversity of Chicago
Rutgers University
Columbia University
Known forPioneering cytoplasmic genetics
AwardsGilbert Morgan Smith Medal (1988)
Scientific career
FieldsGenetics, extranuclear inheritance
InstitutionsRockefeller Institute, Columbia University, Hunter College, Harvard Medical School, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
Doctoral advisorMarcus Morton Rhoades

Ruth Sager (February 7, 1918 – March 29, 1997) was an American plant geneticist, cell physiologist and cancer researcher.[1] In the 1950s and 1960s she pioneered the field of cytoplasmic genetics by discovering transmission of genetic traits through chloroplast DNA,[2] the first known example of genetics not involving the cell nucleus. The academic community did not acknowledge the significance of her contribution until after the second wave of feminism in the 1970s.[3] Her second career began in the early 1970s and was in cancer genetics; she proposed and investigated the roles of tumor suppressor genes.

  1. ^ "Ruth Sager, HMS Geneticist, Dies". Harvard Gazette. April 10, 1997. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference news.Harvard.edu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Oakes, Elizabeth. International Encyclopedia of Women Scientists. 2002. Facts on File.