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MEET A NOBEL LAUREATE
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Gertrude B. Elion
Nobel Prize in Medicine
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Gertrude Elion: It really wasn't until I got out of college and started looking for a job. And it really hit me because I had done well in school, graduated summa cum laude, and I thought, well, you know, there is no reason somebody won't give me a try. But wherever I went -- it was a depression time, it was a time that there weren't many jobs to begin with, and what there were, they couldn't see any reason to take a woman. They would interview me for long periods of time, but then they would say, "Well, we think you'd be a distracting influence in the laboratory." Well, I guess I was kind of cute at the age of 19, but I can't imagine that I would have been a distracting influence. I would have been so busy working that -- you know. But anyway, it was very discouraging.
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[ Interview ] Gertrude Elion |
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I think that my social life really took a hiatus in about 1941 -- actually before I went to Burroughs Wellcome -- because of the death of someone I loved very much. And after that, I really sort of put myself into my work in a way perhaps that I wouldn't have otherwise. I might have gotten married, and it just didn't happen, because the person I was engaged to died of a disease that could have been cured by penicillin, but there was no penicillin. That was another lesson I learned. How important some discoveries could be in life-saving. And years later, you know, thinking back on it, and saying, "If only there had been penicillin." And it was a good lesson.
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[ Interview ] Gertrude Elion |
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Just at that time, we got interested in immunology. And we got interested because somebody who had written to us for 6-mecaptopurine looked at it in the immune response in a rabbit, and let us know that it inhibited the immune response. So he came and saw us, and said, "You know, you have some compounds that could be very interesting in immune response." We listened, and said, "OK. We will set up a screen that will try to determine whether some of these anti-leukemic compounds have activity on the immune response." And lo and behold, this one compound that I had made which was equivalent in leukemia, was better on the immune response. Then along comes a young surgeon who had read the paper about the rabbit antibody response. And he says, "You know, I tried 6-mecaptopurine on kidney transplants in dogs, and it really prevented the rejection for quite a long time. Do you have anything that might be better?" Well, we don't know, but here, take this compound. It looks better in mice. So he goes off on a fellowship to the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, tries it, and finds it definitely is better. And the next thing you know, it's preventing rejection of kidney transplants in man.
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Gertrude Elion: I think I'm most proud of the fact that so many of the drugs have really been useful in saving lives. I've run into people whose lives have been saved, and the kind of satisfaction that you get from having someone come up and say, "My child had acute leukemia and your drug saved him." Or, "My little girl had herpes encephalitis, and she is now cured, she is back at school. She is doing very well. People told me that she might be mentally affected, but she is not." I run into people who have had kidney transplants for 20 years who are still taking the drug. And I don't think that anything else that happens to you can match that type of satisfaction.
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[ Interview ] Gertrude Elion |
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Leon Lederman, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics
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Leon Lederman: Let's take a metaphor. You have a trunk. And all kinds of combination locks and you know this trunk is important because you found it in an attic. It's covered with cobwebs, and must be really good. People are working on the combinations and you come in, sort of six months later, and they're all working on the combinations, and they have these papers and computer codes, and they're working out, and you say, "Look at all these bright guys. They haven't been able to get into the trunk. There's something they're missing." And you walk around the back -- the back is open. Nobody went to look at the back of the trunk. Well, it's kind of a silly metaphor but, in a way, science can often be that way. You know that a lot of very bright people have been working on a problem. You know there's a solution, right? So, you say, "What is it that they haven't thought about?"
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[ Interview ] Leon Lederman |
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Leon Lederman: Suddenly it became clear that there was a way of testing this parity idea. And so, we went to the laboratory and dashed in on this poor, confused steward, and started rearranging the apparatus and telling him do this, do that, do the other thing, and he saw his thesis flying out the window. "What are you doing to my apparatus?" And someone said, "Don't worry about it, it's going to be great." And we worked on the weekend, preparing this experiment. And it turned out that we started collecting data Monday evening, and by three o'clock Tuesday morning we knew something that nobody else in the world knew. That this symmetry idea that we had been working on was not a perfect symmetry, that there was an imperfection in the symmetry, a very important imperfection in the symmetry. That was the key discovery.
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[ Interview ] Leon Lederman |
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Leon Lederman: Many, many great theoretical breakthroughs in physics and mathematics were done by very young people. Of course, you have to know something, so that's experience, and experience grows with age, creativity is declining with age. You've got to find that balance between the two which will give you your peak years of accomplishment. If you have pure creativity, but you don't know anything, it's too bad. Sometimes it's bad to know too much. I remember Wolfgang Pauli, a very famous Austrian physicist, complaining about his own lack of creativity, said, "Ach, I know too much!" You see, if you know too much, then you don't have that fresh view which allows you to see the breakthrough idea.
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[ Interview ] Leon Lederman |
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Linus Pauling, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Peace
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As the years have gone by, starting quite early, I realized I tried to formulate a picture of the universe. In a sense, a theory of everything. Whenever I hear something new, I try to fit it into the picture that I have already formed of the universe. If it fits in, well and good, I don't need to worry about it. But, if it doesn't fit in, then I ask, "Why doesn't it fit in with my ideas about how the universe ought to be operating?" I'd better try to find the answer to that. So, then I can ask, "How well is my background of knowledge and experience, such that I have a reasonable chance of finding the answer?" And if it isn't, then I say, "Well, perhaps someone else will make some progress with that idea, but I better go on with the others." So, I have lots of ideas. I do a lot of scientific reading, and quite often, every week perhaps, I read about something that someone is reporting that puzzles me. So I have a big pile of questions of this sort that I would like to settle down to work on.
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[ Interview ] Linus Pauling |
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The State Department prevented me from traveling for two years. The first time, when the Royal Society of London was holding a two-day conference to discuss my work, I was to be the first speaker [to discuss] work on the structure of protons an international conference just to discuss these discoveries that I had made. And, I couldn't go to the conference because I couldn't get the passport. So for two years, the State Department caused trouble for me. They wouldn't tell me why. They said "Not in the best interest of the United States," or "Your anti-Communist statements haven't been strong enough." I was having a scrap with the Communists -- the Russians and the Soviet Union -- at the time, and I was critical of the Soviet Union, but they used that as an excuse, saying they weren't strong enough, my statements. I'm sure this interfered seriously with my work. When I was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the New York Times had an article saying, "Will Professor Pauling be allowed to go to Stockholm to receive this Nobel Prize?" So I received the passport, which had been turned down only a short time before. It was sent to me.
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Overcoming Obstacles: Saving Lives
Nobel prize-winner, Gertrude B. Elion, states how proud she is that may of the medicines she discovered and developed have saved people's lives. If this inspiring scientist had not overcome the obstacles in her path to becoming a scientist, medicine would have lacked her talent and achievements. Research the life of Gertrude Elion identifying the obstacles she faced and the importance of her achievements. Select a Nobel Prize winner from the last five years. Conduct research on this person's achievements and challenges. Develop a multimedia report that profiles and compares each Nobel Prize winner. Link their achievements to their ability to overcome obstacles and stay focused on their goals and dreams.
In the News: This Year's Nobel Prize Winners
The 2001 Nobel Prize winners have recently been announced. Prizes were given in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics and peace. Create an online press release with photos, short bios, and quotes from recipients that presents this year's winners and their achievements.
A Letter to Dr. Linus Pauling
Dr. Linus Pauling was the only person who has won two unshared Nobel prizes. He won a Nobel Prize in chemistry and also the famous Nobel Peace Prize. Research the life and views of Dr. Pauling. What did he achieve in science and in world peace that was exceptional? Imagine Dr. Pauling is still alive today. Write an unsent letter to him that expresses your ideas about his contributions. Include questions you have about his ideas and work. Pose questions that ask him about conflicts in the world today.
Nobel Interactive Poster
Since 1901, Nobel Prizes in have been given for exceptional achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics and peace. Gertrude B. Elion, Dr. Leon Lederman, and Dr. Linus Pauling were but three of these Nobel Prize winners. Survey the history of the Nobel Prize. In addition to these three individuals, select several others from various fields who you believe are particularly interesting and worthy of the award. Create an interactive poster or gallery celebrating these individuals. Include an image or photo, the area for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize, information about their achievements, and a quote.
The Role of Creativity
Dr. Leon Lederman describes the role of creativity in achieving breakthrough ideas in science as well as other areas. He describes the need to find a balance between knowledge, the amount a person knows, and out-of-the-box creativity that supports a fresh view. Consider what you know about creativity. In what ways are you creative? In what ways can a scientist be as creative as an artist? How does creativity help a person solve problems? What makes creativity an important quality to have in life? Research the profiles of several Nobel Prize winners in different fields. Identify the role you believe creativity played in their success. Write short tributes to three memorable Nobel Prize winners who in your opinion used both their knowledge and creativity in exceptional ways.
The Nobel Peace Prize
Dr. Linus Pauling won the coveted Nobel Peace Prize in 1962. Peace was one of the five prizes specified in Alfred Nobel's will. He stated that prizes should be given to those who, during the preceding year, "shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" and that one prize in particular be given to the person who "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Dr. Pauling won the Nobel Peace prize for his campaign against nuclear weapons tests, the spread of these lethal weapons, and his crusade against all warfare as a means of solving international conflicts. Research Dr. Pauling's actions and statements further. Extend your research to include the achievements and views of other recent winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. Use your research to develop fictional conversation (dialogue) between three Nobel Peace Prize winners discussing their views of current world conflict.
Acting on a Hypothesis
Dr. Leon Lederman describes the scientific process or quest as a locked trunk. He describes people working diligently to find the right combination to unlock the lock and open that trunk. They look no further than the lock itself and miss the fact that the back of the trunk is wide open. Dr. Lederman won the Nobel Prize in physics as part of a three-person team who unlocked a particular trunk of knowledge and came to know something that "nobody else in the world knew about physics." Their journey to a breakthrough was not a linear straight path. Research the often dramatic stories of other scientists who have won the Nobel Prize. Trace their journey from hypothesis to breakthrough and discovery. Select one of these case studies to present in the form of an interactive essay.
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