Elizabeth Blackburn

Elizabeth Blackburn is exactly the kind of person I think deserves far more household recognition than she gets. Born in Hobart, Tasmania and educated at the University of Melbourne, she co-discovered telomerase with Carol Greider, work that earned her the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The award list is staggering: Lasker, Gairdner, Benjamin Franklin Medal, L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science. Telomeres sit right at the heart of how we age, so her science feels personally relevant in a way most discoveries don't. I find it inspiring that she later led the Salk Institute, proving great researchers can also lead institutions.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Elizabeth Blackburn

Name (Japanese)

エリザベス・H・ブラックバーン

Reading

えりざべす・H・ぶらっくばーん

Born

November 26, 1948 (age 77)

Origin

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Occupation

biologist / molecular biologist / biochemist / university teacher

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Sagittarius / Rat

High school

University High School

University

University of Melbourne

Awards & achievements

• 2006 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
• 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 2008 L'Oréal-UNESCO Award For Women in Science
• 2005 Benjamin Franklin Medal
• 1999 Harvey Prize
• 1998 Canada Gairdner International Award
• 2009 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
• 2007 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize

• Official sitehttps://blackburnlab.ucsf.edu
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth%20Blackburn
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B6%E3%83%99%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BBH%E3%83%BB%E3%83%96%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26321

Tags

• Tasmania
• biologist
• molecular biologist
• biochemist

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.