Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks was a black tobacco farmer in Virginia who got cervical cancer at the age of 30. In 1951, a Johns Hopkins doctor removed her tumor without her knowledge and sent it to scientists who had been trying to grow tissues in culture. And it turned out that Lacks' cells actually never died thereafter, making them the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture, much to the bewilderment of scientists even today. These are called HeLa cells, which are the first two letters taken from her first and last name. Among some landmarks associated with HeLa cells: they were used for the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and in vitro fertilization, and they were taken up to the moon to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity.

Lacks' story is told in a new book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by debut author Rebecca Skloot.