23 Nov 1918 – 21 Feb 1999
Gertrude Elion was born in New York. When, as a teenager, she watched her maternal grandfather die of cancer, Elion decided to devote her life to fighting the disease. She studied chemistry at Hunter College and New York University, but, as a woman, had difficulty finding work as a chemist. During World War II a lack of chemists arose because many men had joined the war, which led Elion to find work at a laboratory.