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.
– Gertrude B. Elion
(1918 – 1999), American biochemist and pharmacologist. In 1988 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (shared with George Hitchings and Sir James Black) for “their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment.” Other career highlights include the National Medal of Honor (awarded to her in 1991) and the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award (1997). Gertrude B. Elion was also the first woman inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (1991).
