Rosalyn Sussman Yalow – Queen of Carbon Science

Timeline: 

July 19, 1921 – May 30, 2011

Place of study: 

Hunter College, USA

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA

Famous for: 

Development of the radioimmunoassay (RIA) technique

  • Development of the radioimmunoassay (RIA) technique, which helped in the screening of various types of hepatitis; identify hormone-related health problems such as diabetes mellitus; detect foreign substances in the blood including some cancers and measure the effectiveness of dose levels of antibiotics and drugs.

Awards:

Dickson Prize (1972)

AMA Scientific Achievement Award (1975)

Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1976)

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1977)

National Medal of Science (1988)

Fun fact:

Yalow was responsible for steering Mildred Dresselhaus, the future “Queen of Carbon Science”, away from primary school teaching and into a research career.