Through thorns - to the Nobel Prize. The History of Gertrude Elyon

 I continue the cycle about not the most famous Jews who contributed to history.

In  January 1918, a cold New York night, in the family of  Lithuanian-Russian immigrants of Jewish origin, Gertrude's daughter was  born. Robert  Elayon, her father, left Lithuania when she was 12 years old, when she  went to New York, where she was educated as a dentist, and her mother,  Berta (nee Cohen) fled from Russia at the age of 14, and in 19 she  already married father of Gertrude. The first few years of her life Gertrude spent in spacious apartments  in Manhattan, which in combination, served as the cabinet for her  father.

The younger brother was born when Gertrude was six, and they moved to the suburbs of New York, the Bronx. According to Gertrude herself, her childhood was happy - she spent a  lot of time with her brother in parks, in the Bronx Zoo, went to a good  school near the house and, despite the large number of students, managed  to get a good, full-fledged education.

When Gertrude was 15, her beloved grandfather passed away from cancer. For  the girl, this was a serious shock, and this event predetermined the  fate of Gertrude - she decided to devote her life to studying methods of  fighting this disease. In 1933, she entered the Hunter College, where she actively engaged in chemistry and biology.

By  that time, the family of Gertrude was not all right with finances - his  father lost a lot of money on the stock market crisis of 1929. Constant  clients and reputation allowed the father to keep the family afloat,  however, paid education of children could undermine the budget at the  root. Fortunately,  Hunter College took students to budget places, and good grades,  knowledge and zeal allowed Gertrude to enter there and get a higher  education. Brother also managed to succeed - he went on a budget to another college, to the physics department.

The institution in which Gertrude studied was exclusively female. Many  teachers, from her own words, did not give due diligence to the  training of female students, because they suspected that only a small  fraction of the girls would focus on their careers in the future. Most of Gertrude's schoolmates became teachers, and only a few, apart from herself, took up science seriously. The Great Depression only complicated the already difficult being of  American students - it was practically unrealistic or very expensive to  get additional knowledge outside the college walls.

There were very few jobs, and even in scientific laboratories accessible to women - and even more so. For  three months after graduation, Gertrude taught biochemistry to nurses  from the New York Medical School, and then, fortunately, she met a  chemist who was looking for an assistant. Initially,  Gertrude did not even pay - she worked on a volunteer basis, deciding  that the experience at that time for her was more important than  material wealth. A  few months later, Gertrude was paid $ 20 dollars a week, and she began  to save money, which she later spent for admission (with the help of her  parents), to the University of New York. In the autumn of 1939, she became the only girl on the course for young, talented chemists.

A  year later, she began the research work required to obtain a Master of  Science, while earning a living as a teacher at the school. In 1941, she finally received a much-desired degree.

In  the meantime, the Second World War began, which gave rise to personnel  hunger, including in the chemical laboratories of various companies. Gertrude  became a quality engineer in a large food concern, however, she did not  satisfy her research hunger - a monotonously repeated sequence of  actions did not correspond to the girl's aspirations, let them pay for  it well. With  the help of a recruitment agency, she managed to get a job at the  Johnson and Johnson research lab in New Jersey, but six months later it  was abolished. Once again in search, Gertrude finally managed to find what she was  looking for - a job in the laboratory of George Hitchings, a brilliant  scientist who worked for the pharmaceutical company Borow-Welkam.

The experienced eye of Hitchings immediately saw the future talent in Gertrude. By giving her the opportunity to learn from him personally and improve  her skills, George allowed Gertrude, who had previously been a  specialist in the field of organic chemistry, to expand his horizons in  the fields of microbiology, biochemistry, pharmaceutics and immunology.

In addition, she did not cease to study, now aiming for a doctorate, which gave even greater prospects. Almost  every evening, Gertrude visited the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute,  however, after several years she was told that she would not be able to  continue to combine her work and the doctor's, and offered a difficult  choice. And  she did it, remaining at work, and putting an end to scientific  research - but only within the framework of the dissertation work. For a long time, Gertrude doubted the correctness of her decision, and only much later, after obtaining a degree