Rosalind Franklin

Chemist whose x-ray diffraction studies provided crucial clues to the structure of DNA and quantitatively confirmed the Watson-Crick DNA model

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Barbara McClintock

In 1983, at the age of 81, she received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work on “mobile genetic elements,” that is, genetic transposition, or the ability of genes to change position on the chromosome. McClintock was the first woman to receive an unshared Nobel Prize in that category.

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Mary Lasker

Medical philanthropist, political strategist, and health activist Mary Lasker acted as the catalyst for the rapid growth of the biomedical research enterprise in the United States after World War II.

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Dr Margaret Chung

Dr. Margaret “Mom” Chung was the first Chinese American woman to become a physician. She founded one of the first Western medical clinics in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1920s. During World War II, she and her widespread network of “adopted sons,” most of them American soldiers, sailors, and airmen who called her “Mom,” became famous.

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