She lost loved ones and decided that she must save the lives of others (5 photos)

Gertrude Elion - a woman who made very important discoveries in science, and this is at a time when for the fair sex this world was closed...





Gertrude was born in New York to a Jewish immigrant family. Elion. Her dad was a dentist and it is possible that this is why girls quite early awakened interest in knowledge and science.

Later, she said that since childhood she loved to read and could not imagine a single day without new knowledge.



But until the age of 15, Gertrude did not seriously think about science. But at the age of 15 her grandfather died and at that very moment Gertrude promised herself that she would help those who suffer from illnesses.

This was the first loss, which became the impetus for the future scientist.

After high school, Elion went to college, then to graduate school, where received a master's degree in chemistry. But in those days a woman did not could give the doctorate that a woman dreamed of.





In addition, there were problems with work. No laboratory I didn't want to hire a woman. And only after the war some progress began in the scientific world - Elion was able to find a job. But it was either the position of a laboratory assistant or a teacher. And Gertrude wanted save human lives.

A breakthrough for her was the work in the pharmaceutical company Wellcam.


Having settled down as an ordinary assistant, she rose to the head of the department. experimental therapy. Thanks to Gertrude and her subordinates, medicines have been discovered that are now saving thousands and thousands of lives around the world. She discovered drugs for leukemia, herpes. Elion opened acyclovir, which at least once used, probably, every second in the world human.

In the late 80s, Gertrude and her leader George Hitchings received the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. Elion became the first person in the history of the award, who received it without having doctoral degree.



Gertrude lived for work. She never married. She didn't have children.

In one of the interviews, she said that she was in love as a student into one young man. He died two years later of a viral illness. And this again convinced Elion that she should do science so that as much as possible fewer people lost their loved ones.

Gertrude practiced medicine until the end of her days, being a consultant to the American Association for Research on Cancer and WHO.