Gertrude B. Elion's Contribution Essay

Contributions of Gertrude B. Elion There have been many famous female Chemists throughout history that have made extraordinary contributions to society. Their contributions have helped society in a variety of things. One of these famous female Chemists is Gertrude B. Elion. She has brought many discoveries about drugs to the world throughout her life that helped many people. Gertrude B. Elion has many accomplishments including creating new drugs, and winning the Nobel Prize. Elion was born on January 23, 1918 in the Bronx in New York City. Her father had wanted Gertrude and her brother to become dentists just as he was, but both were never interested in dentistry. “Neither of one of us was keen on dentistry” (Yount 1). At only age 15, she graduated from High School with a “insatiable thirst for knowledge” (Bio.com 1). and a tragedy happened. Her grandfather died of cancer and this was when she realized she wanted to do something about it. She graduated with highest honors from …show more content…
In March of 1991 she was the first woman to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Drug Developers are usually considered inventors but she had 40 patents under her name. Also in 1991 she was given the Medal of Science. She is also now included in the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame. After she retired and in her later years, she served on many boards and committees such as the National Cancer Advisory Board and other ones that were connected with the World Health Organization. Elion also helped train medical students at several universities. Elion’s favorite thing was giving lectures to young people. Gertrude B. Elion was an extraordinary woman who dedicated her life and research to helping others by creating drugs to help other people. We still use her drugs today and that shows how great her work was and how well they help people. She gave many contributions to the chemistry and science