Gertrude Elion

(1918 - 1999)

Gertrude Elion was born in 1918 in New York City. A biochemist, she was the co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1988) designed studies that led to formulating many new drugs now used to inhibit the progress of leukemia. Her work also shed light on how DNA functions. She was also the first woman elected to the National Inventor's Hall of Fame (1991), which honors figures such as Thomas Alva Edison.

Sources: Dor LeDor