BREAKING THROUGH

From butcher s daughter in Communist Hungary to winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023 this is the story of one woman s extraordinary determination through decades of obscurity and rejection and her breakthrough discovery that saved millions of lives Riveting A true story of a brilliant biochemist who never gave up or gave in BONNIE GARMUS author of Lessons in Chemistry Anyone who has ever doubted that science innovation and persistence can change the world should read this book BILL GATES Katalin Karikó began life as a butcher s daughter in post war Communist Hungary a hand to mouth existence in a single room house of clay and straw with no running water Breaking Through is her extraordinary memoir of how she achieved her dream of becoming a scientist first in Hungary and then in the USA and pursued her belief despite so many telling her not to that an elusive molecule could transform our ability to prevent disease For three decades she worked in obscurity battling cockroaches in a windowless lab enduring demotion the derision of her colleagues even threats of deportation But in 2020 Karikó s vision was spectacularly vindicated when her work made possible the mRNA vaccines that brought an end to the pandemic paving the way for simi