The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak for their work on "how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase." (
Check out this 1996 article in Scientific American
by Greider and Blackburn). According to Abel, just eight of the 192 individuals awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine are women. As he writes:
To have Blackburn and Grieder win the prize is an incredible accomplishment for any scientist, but one that I think will pay huge dividends in helping our young women (and the mini-women that some of us Dads have) in appreciating that they too can be a world-class scientist.
I couldn't agree more. Congratulations to Blackburn, Greider, and Szostak!
