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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 468,938 page views. Her biography is available in 67 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 62 in 2019). Gertrude B. Elion is the 39th most popular chemist (up from 54th in 2019), the 390th most popular biography from United States (up from 566th in 2019) and the 4th 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

  • 470k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 68.13

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 67

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 12.18

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.09

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Gertrude B. Elions by language


Among CHEMISTS

Among chemists, Gertrude B. Elion ranks 39 out of 509Before her are Robert Bunsen, William Ramsay, Frederick Sanger, Jan Baptist van Helmont, Carl Bosch, and Walther Nernst. After her are Henrik Dam, Ilya Prigogine, Frederick Soddy, Victor Grignard, Theodor Svedberg, and William Crookes.

Most Popular Chemists in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1918, Gertrude B. Elion ranks 16Before her are Ken Miles, Louis Althusser, Helmut Schmidt, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Waldheim, and Frederick Sanger. After her are Alberto Ascari, Katherine Johnson, Jørn Utzon, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, William Holden, and Billy Graham. Among people deceased in 1999, Gertrude B. Elion ranks 9Before her are Franjo Tuđman, Hussein of Jordan, Hassan II of Morocco, Mario Puzo, Joaquín Rodrigo, and Pete Conrad. After her are Amália Rodrigues, Yehudi Menuhin, Raisa Gorbacheva, Wilt Chamberlain, Robert Bresson, 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 390 out of 18,182Before her are Kurt Russell (1951), Nicole Kidman (1967), Kevin Costner (1955), Jeff Bridges (1949), Charles Goodyear (1800), and Sarah Vaughan (1924). After her are Jerome Bruner (1915), Carroll Shelby (1923), Shirley Temple (1928), Henry Clay (1777), Jodie Foster (1962), and Brian De Palma (1940).

Among CHEMISTS In United States

Among chemists born in United States, Gertrude B. Elion ranks 4Before her are Linus Pauling (1901), Edwin McMillan (1907), and John Stith Pemberton (1831). After her are Melvin Calvin (1911), Kary Mullis (1944), Irving Langmuir (1881), John Howard Northrop (1891), Theodore William Richards (1868), Gilbert N. Lewis (1875), Marshall Warren Nirenberg (1927), and Edward Adelbert Doisy (1893).