Rosalyn Yalow
| Rosalyn Sussman Yalow | |
|---|---|
Rosalyn Yalow (1977)
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| Born | Rosalyn Sussman July 19, 1921 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 30, 2011 (aged 89) The Bronx, New York, U.S. undisclosed causes |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Medical physics |
| Alma mater |
Hunter College University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign |
| Known for | Radioimmunoassay (RIA) |
| Influenced | Mildred Dresselhaus |
| Notable awards | 1972 Dickson Prize 1975 AMA Scientific Achievement Award 1976 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1988 National Medal of Science |
| Spouse | A. Aaron Yalow (m. 1943; 2 children) |
| Children | Benjamin and Elanna |
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (July 19, 1921 – May 30, 2011) was an American medical physicist, and a co-winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (together with Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally) for development of the radioimmunoassay (RIA) technique. She was the second American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine after Gerty Cori.
She was born in Manhattan, the daughter of Clara (née Zipper) and Simon Sussman. She attended Walton High School.
I was excited about achieving a career in physics. My family, being more practical, thought the most desirable position for me would be as an elementary school teacher.
Knowing how to type, she won a part-time position as secretary to Dr. Rudolf Schoenheimer, a leading biochemist at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. Not believing that any good graduate school would admit and provide financial support to a woman, she took a job as a secretary to Michael Heidelberger, another biochemist at Columbia, who hired her on the condition that she studied stenography. She graduated from Hunter College in January 1941.
In mid-February of that aforementioned year she received an offer of a teaching assistantship in physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with the primary reason being that World War II commenced and many men went off to war and the university decided to offer scholarships for women rather than shut down. That summer she took two tuition-free physics courses under government auspices at New York University. At the University of Illinois, she was the only woman among the department's 400 members, and the first since 1917. She married fellow student Aaron Yalow, the son of a rabbi, in June 1943. They had two children and kept a kosher home. Yalow earned her Ph.D in 1945.
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