In the early 1930s, prestigious postdoctoral fellowships from the National Research Council, the Guggenheim Foundation, and others, enabled Dr. McClintock to pursue genetics research at several different institutions, including Cornell, the University of Missouri, and the California Institute of Technology. Part of this postdoctoral training included six months in Germany in 1933-1934, but mounting political tensions across Europe forced her to return to the United States earlier than she expected.