Everything about Gertrude Elion totally explained
Gertrude Belle Elion (
January 23,
1918 –
February 21,
1999) was an
American biochemist and
pharmacologist, and a 1988 recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Born in
New York City to immigrant parents, she graduated from
Hunter College in 1937 and
New York University (M.Sc.) in 1941. Unable to obtain a graduate research position
due to her gender, she worked as a lab assistant and a high school teacher. Later, she left to work as an assistant to
George H. Hitchings at the
Burroughs-Wellcome pharmaceutical company (now
GlaxoSmithKline). She never obtained a formal
Ph.D., but was later awarded an honorary Ph.D from
Polytechnic University of New York in 1989.
Working alone as well as with Hitchings, Elion developed a multitude of new
drugs, using innovative research methods that would later lead to the development of the
AIDS drug
AZT. Rather than relying on trial-and-error, Elion and Hitchings used the differences in biochemistry between normal human cells and
pathogens (disease-causing agents) to design drugs that could kill or inhibit the reproduction of particular pathogens without harming the host cells.
Elion's inventions include:
In 1988 Elion received the Nobel Prize in Medicine, together with Hitchings and
Sir James Black. Other awards include the
National Medal of Science (1991) and the
Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award (1997). In 1991 she became the first woman to be inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Gertrude Elion died in North Carolina in 1999, aged 81. She had moved to the
Research Triangle in 1970, and for a time served as a research professor at
Duke University. She was unmarried.
Quotes
"I had no specific bent toward science until my grandfather died of stomach cancer. I decided nobody should suffer that much."
"The idea was to do research, find new avenues to conquer, new mountains to climb!"
Awards
Garvan-Olin Medal (1968)
Nobel Prize in Medicine (1988)
National Medal of Science (1991)
Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)
National Inventors Hall of Fame (1991) (first woman to be inducted)Further Information
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