Heroes that deserve more recognition
How much thought have you given lately to Karl Landsteiner? Karl who? He only saved a billion lives by his discovery of blood groups. Or how about these other heroes?
Abel Wolman (1892–1982) and Linn Enslow (1891–1957)
chlorination of water
177 million lives saved
William Foege (1936– )
smallpox eradication strategy
131 million lives saved
Maurice Hilleman (1919–2005)
eight vaccines
129 million lives saved
John Enders (1897–1985)
measles vaccine
120 million lives saved
Howard Florey (1898–1968)
penicillin
82 million lives saved
Gaston Ramon (1886–1963)
diphtheria and tetanus vaccines
60 million lives saved
David Nalin (1941– )
oral rehydration therapy
54 million lives saved
Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915)
diphtheria and tetanus antitoxins
42 million lives saved
Andreas Grüntzig (1939–1985)
angioplasty
15 million lives saved
Grace Eldering (1900–1988) and Pearl Kendrick (1890–1980)
whooping cough vaccine
14 million lives saved
Gertrude Elion (1918–1999)
rational drug design
5 million lives saved
From Steven Pinker in "Enlightenment Now"
Comentarios
Hi Daniel, very interesting post! Have you noticed what's wrong with this list? It acknowledges mainly men and the two women named are on the bottom of the list;-) Here's another woman who needs more recognition:
Alice Augusta Ball (1802-1916), an African American chemist who developed an injectable oil extract which became the treatment for leprosy. Alice died at the age of 24 and was unable to publish her findings. The president of the university continued Alice’s work, publishing the findings as his own, without giving credit to her.
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