CHEMIST

Gertrude B. Elion

1918 - 1999

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Gertrude "Trudy" Belle Elion (January 23, 1918 – February 21, 1999) was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black for their use of innovative methods of rational drug design for the development of new drugs. This new method focused on understanding the target of the drug rather than simply using trial-and-error. Her work led to the creation of the anti-retroviral drug AZT, which was the first drug widely used against AIDS. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Gertrude B. Elion has received more than 487,853 page views. Her biography is available in 71 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 67 in 2019). Gertrude B. Elion is the 37th most popular chemist (up from 39th in 2019), the 345th most popular biography from United States (up from 390th in 2019) and the 5th most popular American Chemist.

Gertrude B. Elion is most famous for her work in the field of pharmacology. She developed the first leukemia drug, AZT, which is used to treat HIV/AIDS. She also developed a drug called clofarabine, which is used to treat cancer in children.

Memorability Metrics

  • 490k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 68.95

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 71

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 12.37

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.11

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among CHEMISTS

Among chemists, Gertrude B. Elion ranks 37 out of 602. Before her are Ilya Prigogine, Walther Nernst, Robert Bunsen, Henrik Dam, Tu Youyou, and John Stith Pemberton. After her are Carl Bosch, Henri Moissan, August Kekulé, Valery Legasov, Adolf von Baeyer, and Adolf Butenandt.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1918, Gertrude B. Elion ranks 15. Before her are Kurt Waldheim, Louis Althusser, Robert Wadlow, Rita Hayworth, Helmut Schmidt, and Ken Miles. After her are Alberto Ascari, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Frederick Sanger, Chaim Herzog, Katherine Johnson, and William Holden. Among people deceased in 1999, Gertrude B. Elion ranks 8. Before her are Hassan II of Morocco, Scatman John, Franjo Tuđman, Pete Conrad, Hussein of Jordan, and Mario Puzo. After her are Joaquín Rodrigo, Amália Rodrigues, Wilt Chamberlain, Yehudi Menuhin, Anatoliy Solovianenko, and Wassily Leontief.

Others Born in 1918

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Others Deceased in 1999

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Gertrude B. Elion ranks 345 out of 20,380. Before her are John Stith Pemberton (1831), James Fenimore Cooper (1789), Margaret Mitchell (1900), Geraldine Chaplin (1944), Mario Puzo (1920), and Sharon Stone (1958). After her are Calvin Klein (1942), Paul Auster (1947), John Cage (1912), Julia Roberts (1967), Fred Astaire (1899), and Rachel Carson (1907).

Others born in United States

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Among CHEMISTS In United States

Among chemists born in United States, Gertrude B. Elion ranks 5. Before her are Linus Pauling (1901), Edwin McMillan (1907), John Howard Northrop (1891), and John Stith Pemberton (1831). After her are Melvin Calvin (1911), Irving Langmuir (1881), Gilbert N. Lewis (1875), Theodore William Richards (1868), James B. Sumner (1887), Edward Adelbert Doisy (1893), and Marshall Warren Nirenberg (1927).

American born Chemists

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