1921-

American Physicist

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow won the 1977 Nobel Prize for the development of radioimmunoassays for peptide hormones. The revolutionary radioimmunoassay (RAI) developed by Yalow and her colleague Solomon Berson (1918-1972) made possible the measurement of extremely minute amounts of almost any substance in blood and body tissues.

Yalow was born in New York City and has lived and worked there ever since, except for her graduate work at the University of Illinois. As a high school student, Yalow was interested in mathematics and chemistry, but at Hunter College she became attracted to nuclear physics. Like many other women scientists, Yalow was touched by Eve Curie's biography of her mother, Madame Curie, a book that Yalow still considers essential reading for aspiring female scientists.

Although Yalow hoped to become a physicist, in keeping with prevailing views of proper roles for women, her parents thought...