Rosalyn S. Yalow Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (July 19, 1921 – May 30, 2011) was an American medical physicist renowned for her role in the development of the radioimmunoassay (RIA) technique. Yalow’s groundbreaking work in nuclear medicine transformed the field and garnered her the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which she shared with Andrew Schally and Roger Guillemin.

Yalow displayed a keen interest in mathematics and chemistry from an early age. She attended Walton High School and later enrolled at Hunter College, where she graduated with a degree in physics in 1941. Despite societal biases against women in the sciences at the time, Yalow pursued further education and received a doctorate in nuclear physics in 1945 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In 1950, Yalow and Solomon A. Berson (her collaborator until his death in 1972) developed the RIA technique, a method that uses radioactive isotopes to measure concentrations of various biological substances in the human body. Originally designed to measure insulin levels in blood, RIA is now used extensively to measure a broad array of substances, making significant contributions to endocrinology, pharmacology, and virology. Their work is considered pioneering, as it countered the prevailing belief that small quantities of substances like hormones could not be measured accurately.

In recognition of her exemplary contributions to science, Yalow became the second woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She was a powerful advocate for women in science, frequently highlighting her own struggles and triumphs as a woman in a male-dominated field. Besides the Nobel Prize, Yalow’s work garnered numerous other awards and honors, including the National Medal of Science in 1988. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.