Gertrude B. Elion
Gertrude B. Elion
Gertrude Belle Elion was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black. Working alone as well as with Hitchings and Black, Elion developed a multitude of new drugs, using innovative research methods that would later lead to the development of the AIDS drug AZT...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth23 January 1918
CountryUnited States of America
hard-work saws reason-why
Don't be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don't let others discourage you or tell you that you can't do it. In my day I was told women didn't go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn't.
waiting world wanted
Nobody . . . took me seriously. They wondered why in the world I wanted to be a chemist when no women were doing that. The world was not waiting for me.
get-well hard-work serious-illness
It is important to go into work you would like to do. Then it doesn't seem like work. You sometimes feel it's almost too good to be true that someone will pay you for enjoying yourself. I've been very fortunate that my work led to useful drugs for a variety of serious illnesses. The thrill of seeing people get well who might otherwise have died of diseases like leukemia, kidney failure, and herpes virus encephalitis cannot be described in words.
knew satisfied
I loved to learn everything, everything in sight, and I was never satisfied that I knew everything there was to know in each of my courses.
bent decided died nobody science specific suffer toward until
I had no specific bent toward science until my grandfather died of cancer. I decided nobody should suffer that much.
although brother children family grow happiness pleasure separated several shared sons three watching
Although I never married, my brother fortunately did, and I have had the pleasure of watching his three sons and daughter grow up. Several of them now have children of their own. We have been a close-knit family, although often separated by distance, and have shared each other's happiness, sorrows, and aspirations.
almost came career child choose courses enjoying high insatiable knowledge major remember school thirst time
I was a child with an insatiable thirst for knowledge and remember enjoying all of my courses almost equally. When it came time at the end of my high school career to choose a major in which to specialize, I was in a quandary.
apartment born city cold home hospital january night pipes rather time water york
I was born in New York City on a cold January night when the water pipes in our apartment froze and burst. Fortunately, my mother was in the hospital rather than at home at the time.