Gertrude B. Elion

North Carolina · resident1918–1999

American biochemist and pharmacologist (1918–1999)

Died in Chapel Hill
Worked at Duke University

biochemist, pharmacologist, pharmacist, university teacher

Quotations with a citation

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.

People ask me often (was) the Nobel Prize the thing you were aiming for all your life? And I say that would be crazy. Nobody would aim for a Nobel Prize because, if you didn’t get it, your whole life would be wasted. What we were aiming at was getting people well, and the satisfaction of that is much greater than any prize you can get.

I had no specific bent toward science until my grandfather died of stomach cancer. I decided that nobody should suffer that much.