1102: Aung San Suu Kyi The First State Counsellor of Myanmar Born: 19 June 1945, Yangon, Myanmar Aung is the daughter of Myanmar’s political democratic icon General Aung San. Just before Myanmar gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1948, the general was assassinated. Aung was only two years old when her father was…
“Every scientist dreams of doing something that can help the world.” 796: Tu Youyou Pharmaceutical Chemist Born: 30 December 1930, Zhejiang Ningbo, China Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2015. She is the chief scientist at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (where she has worked since 1965). Youyou pioneered a…
“It’s going to be hard work whether you think it’s fun or not, so you might as well have fun while you’re doing the hard work.” 795: Dr. Carol Greider Molecular Biologist Born: 15 April 1961, San Diego, California, United States of America Full Name: Carolyn Widney Greider Carol won the Nobel Prize in Physiology…
705: Selma Lagerlöf Teacher and Author Born: 20 November 1858, Östra Emterwik, Sweden Died: 16 March 1940, Mårbacka, Sweden Selma was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was also the first Swedish person to win the Nobel. She started writing poetry as a child, but didn’t publish until later…
“War is not necessary to achieve glory. In technology, art, science…more beautiful goals than those on the battlefield beckon.” 649: Bertha von Suttner Novelist and Peace Activist Born: 9 June 1843, Prague, Austrian Empire (Present-day Prague, Czech Republic) Died: 21 June 1914, Vienna, Austrian Empire (Present-day Vienna, Austria) Bertha was the first Woman to be…
“This award is not just for me. It is for those forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change.” 616: Malala Yousafzai Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Born: 12 July 1997, Mingora, Pakistan Malala is also the youngest recipient…
“When the war broke out, many people fled from Mogadishu. I welcomed them. It was not planned. It just happened. It became a big camp, which reached 90,000 people. The situation was critical. People were suffering, women were delivering their babies in the road. It was a danger for the mother’s life and the child’s…
398: Gertrude Elion Pharmacologist Born: 23 January 1918, New York City, New York, United States of America Died: 21 February 1999, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America Gertrude helped create prescriptions to help treat leukemia, gout, malaria, herpes, and other diseases. Deciding to enter the field of pharmacology occurred to Gertrude after watching…
395: Dorothy Hodgkin Biochemist and Crystallographer Born: 12 May 1910, Cairo, Egypt Died: 29 July 1994, Ilmington, United Kingdom Dorothy was the first person to create an x-ray diffraction photograph of a protein. She helped discover the structure of penicillin, Vitamin B12, and Insulin. In 1964, she was solely awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry….
394: Rita Levi-Montalcini Neurologist and Physician Born: 22 April 1909, Turin, Italy Died: 30 December 2012, Rome, Italy Rita volunteered with the Allied Health Service during World War II in her native Italy, and continued to work as a doctor in a refugee camp for a year afterward. She studied the growth of nerve fibers…