April 27: Your Weekly Checkup
Quaranzine is a weekly collection of creative works from the Arlington community that documents how we responded to this strange time we find ourselves in. Submit your own work.
Quaranzine is a weekly collection of creative works from the Arlington community that documents how we responded to this strange time we find ourselves in. Submit your own work.
The next deadline for submissions to Quaranzine is Thursday, April 30
This week we're honoring the health care and public health people working tirelessly to protect our communities in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
Biochemist and pharmacologist Gertrude Elion was a trailblazer of modern medicine, and her work has shaped the way professionals today create new and life-saving pharmaceuticals. Elion was crucial in the development of multiple new medications, and in 1988 she was awarded for her work with the Nobel Prize.
Gertrude Elion, image courtesy of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Elion was born in 1918 in New York City to immigrant parents. She grew up in Manhattan and the Bronx and from an early age showed a talent for academic work. She described herself as “a child with an insatiable thirst for knowledge and remember enjoying all of my courses almost equally.” At age 15, Elion attended Hunter College, graduating with high honors in chemistry at 19. Elion was inspired to enter the medical field from a young age, motivated by her grandfather’s death from stomach cancer.
After graduation from college Elion had difficulty getting work in a laboratory, as most did not hire female chemists. Finding only part-time employment as a lab assistant and substitute teacher, she entered New York University to pursue her master’s degree. She was the only woman in her graduate classes, and of this time in her life said: “I hadn’t been aware that any doors were closed to me until I started knocking on them.”
Gertrude Elion in laboratory circa 1950s. Image courtesy of GlaxoSmithKline Heritage Center, via the Jewish Women’s Archive.
The start of World War II drastically changed the job field for American women, offering up more opportunities as many men were called to the war cause. During this time, Elion began working fully in the pharmaceutical field, starting out at Burroughs-Wellcome in nucleic acid research in 1944. This position was the start of her 40-year collaboration with Dr. George Hitchings, who would become her scientific partner in developing new solutions to diseases.
Elion and Hitchings took an innovative approach in creating medicine, focusing on the study of the chemical composition of diseased cells. This was in contrast to the more mainstream process used in their industry, which involved reliance on trial-and-error methods. The pair instead analyzed the differences in biochemistry between normal cells and pathogens to create medications that would block viral infections. This method was known as “rational drug design,” and allowed for successful interference with cell growth.
Over the course of her career, Elion registered 45 patents in medicine, published 225 papers on her medical findings, and helped develop numerous medicines. Among them were effective drugs for treating leukemia, AIDS, gout, malaria, herpes, and treatments related to kidney transplants.
Gertrude Elion and George Hitchings in a laboratory, 1948. Image courtesy of GlaxoSmithKline and Jon Elion, via the Science History Institute.
Gertrude Elion and George Hitchings 1988. Wikimedia Commons.
In 1983, Elion officially retired, but remained active in her field, continuing as a consultant and an adviser for the World Health Organization and American Association for Cancer Research.
In 1988 she was awarded the Nobel Prize along with Hitchings and Sir James Black, “for discoveries of important principles for drug treatment.” In 1991, she became the first woman inducted to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Elion passed away in 1999.
Gertrude Elion, image courtesy of the Nobel Prize Foundation.
Learn More
The Jewish Women’s Archive has an exhibit on Gertrude Elion as part of their “Women of Valor” series.
The Nobel Prize Foundation featured Gertrude Elion as part of their “Women who changed science” series. The Foundation also has a short autobiography from Gertrude Elion that describes her life in her own words.
Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share?
Use this form to send a message to the Charlie Clark Center for Local History.
Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share? Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.
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Three months ago, we could not have guessed at the nationwide changes now affecting the way we live and work.
Today, the long-term effects of this global pandemic on our community can only be imagined. Libraries, parks and schools are closed, restaurants have shut down and many of us are stuck at home or caring for loved ones.
Yet this crisis has also shown our strength. Arlington residents, community organizations, and County departments have joined forces in an outpouring of love, care and dedication to tackle the issues that result from these challenging times.
At Arlington Public Library, our dedicated staff are no different.
This week we join libraries around the country for National Library Week, to celebrate the many ways in which libraries and librarians strengthen our communities — with commitment, heart, and goodwill.
Here are just a few of the many ways in which Library staff are responding to Arlington’s evolving needs:
While we all our facing a “new normal” our hope is that all our collaborative efforts will make life a little easier.
Stay safe, stay well, and stay hopeful.
Diane
Diane Kresh
Director
Arlington Public Library
Quaranzine is a weekly collection of creative works from the Arlington community that documents how we responded to this strange time we find ourselves in. Submit your own work.
The next deadline for submissions to Quaranzine is Thursday, April 23
Quaranzine is a weekly collection of creative works from the Arlington community that documents how we responded to this strange time we find ourselves in. Submit your own work.
The next deadline for submissions to Quaranzine is Thursday, April 16
Arlington is home to many examples of interesting architecture, but the Bay-Eva Castle (also known as Jacobs Castle) stands as one of the most dramatic buildings to grace the County’s landscape.
Overlooking the Potomac on a bluff of the Palisades near Rosslyn, in an area near what is now the Fort Bennett Park and Palisades Trail, the 9,200-square-foot fortress became well-known throughout the region.
The building was the home of obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. J. Bay Jacobs and his wife, Eva Harris Jacobs. Dr. Jacobs was a well-known physician and worked at the Georgetown and Arlington Hospitals. The location of the castle, halfway between those two localities, was perfect for the demands of his career and for access to the city. Eva Jacobs was also involved in the Arlington community as President of the Business and Professional Women’s Club and as the author of the historical novel “Feather on the Dart.”
The castle was designed after a trip the couple took to Bavaria in the 1930s, drawing inspiration from the sweeping turrets and stonework found in Bavaria's historic buildings. When the couple returned, they began construction in 1938, with ongoing additions and improvements being added into the 1950s.
The property the castle was built on was part of the former Thomas B. Dawson Estate, 81 acres that also included the Dawson Bailey House (now maintained by the County as part of the Dawson Terrace Community Center). The Jacobs family then bought 4 acres - what was called the “Spring lot” - from Thomas Dawson’s daughter Bessie Dawson in 1936.
According to the Historical Marker Database, Mrs. Jacobs drew out the design for the home while sitting outside on a tree stump in the rain, sheltered by an umbrella. The outside of the castle took three months to cover with stone, and in some places, the stone walls were 18 inches thick. It was also constructed with a slate roof, copper gutters, and oak flooring.
The abode included an indoor tiled fish pond, as well as a wrought iron staircase in the castle’s 35-foot turret, and flooring in the first-floor living room with a motif of carved butterflies in the shape of a bowtie. The turret also included an additional room that Eva Jacobs used as a studio space.
After the death of Eva Jacobs in 1979 and Dr. J. Bay Jacobs in 1988, the castle was deeded to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the antique furnishings were sold at auction. The property was later sold by the College to a developer, who had planned on developing the land into a community center. However, before these plans were realized, they went bankrupt and the property was foreclosed on.
According to The Arlingtonian, in the early nineties the castle was used as a collective house for a group of recent college graduates, who paid $1,000 in rent for the entire structure.
The castle was razed and demolished in November 1994.
Many Arlington residents remember the castle as it stood, with many commenting on its “eerie” presence. In keeping with this reputation, when demolition workers were going through the house, the body of a baby was found in a small boarded passageway. This was explained to be one of the preserved bodies of stillborn babies Dr. Jacobs used in his teaching as an obstetrician, and no criminal charges were filed.
Today, a historical marker and a stone column bearing the Bay-Eva Castle name are the last remnants of the grand building that once stood on the bluff.
To learn more about Arlington's history, visit the Center for Local History on the first floor of the Central Library.
Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share?
Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.
Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share? Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.
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During the month of April 2020, Arlington Poet Laureate Emerita Katherine E. Young is posting poems from the forthcoming anthology Written in Arlington, which showcases the poets and poems of Arlington, Virginia.
Quaranzine is a weekly collection of creative works from the Arlington community that documents how we responded to this strange time we find ourselves in. Submit your own work.
The next deadline for submissions to Quaranzine is Thursday, April 9.
Arlington County is seeking donations of unused, unopened containers of essential Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), cleaning supplies, and certain food to assist essential employees, nonprofits and community organizations with coronavirus (COVID-19) response operations.
A drive-thru donation station will be available on Friday, April 3, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Central Library parking lot on 10th Street North. This activity conforms to the requirements of Governor Northam’s Stay-At-Home order, but if you are ill, please do not come or donate supplies.
Requested items include:
No other donations will be accepted at this event.
Upon arrival, donors must stay in their cars until they reach the unloading area. There, donors will place their donation onto a cart and return to their vehicles to ensure proper social distancing. A separate line will be available for donors who arrive on foot or by bike.
All donors are expected to observe the proper physical distance of six feet in accordance with Governor Northam’s Stay-At-Home Order.
If you are unable to drop off donations, many other essential requests from Arlington nonprofits are posted on the Volunteer Arlington webpage. Most nonprofits’ primary need is funding.
People who donate are helping ensure essential supplies get to Arlington health care workers, first responders, and County and community workers whose essential jobs put them at risk of coronavirus exposure. Together, we will protect the health and safety of all Arlingtonians.
Learn more about the County’s response to the COVID-19 virus.
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