《Breaking Through》简介：

Katalin Karikó has had an unlikely journey. The daughter of a butcher in postwar communist Hungary, Karikó grew up in an adobe home that lacked running water, and her family grew their own vegetables. She saw the wonders of nature all around her and was determined to become a scientist. That determination eventually brought her to the United States, where she arrived as a postdoctoral fellow in 1985 with $1,200 sewn into her toddler’s teddy bear and a dream to remake medicine.

Karikó worked in obscurity, battled cockroaches in a windowless lab, and faced outright derision and even deportation threats from her bosses and colleagues. She balked as prestigious research institutions increasingly conflated science and money. Despite setbacks, she never wavered in her belief that an ephemeral and underappreciated molecule called messenger RNA could change the world. Karikó believed that someday mRNA would transform ordinary cells into tiny factories capable of producing their own medicines on demand. She sacrificed nearly everything for this dream, but the obstacles she faced only motivated her, and eventually she succeeded.

Karikó’s three-decade-long investigation into mRNA would lead to a staggering achievement: vaccines that protected millions of people from the most dire consequences of COVID-19. These vaccines are just the beginning of mRNA’s potential. Today, the medical community eagerly awaits more mRNA vaccines—for the flu, HIV, and other emerging infectious diseases.

Breaking Through isn’t just the story of an extraordinary woman. It’s an indictment of closed-minded thinking and a testament to one woman’s commitment to laboring intensely in obscurity—knowing she might never be recognized in a culture that is driven by prestige, power, and privilege—because she believed her work would save lives.

《Breaking Through》摘录：

我们成绩的评分为1到5分，其中5分为最高分。在我上学的初期，我的成绩大多是4分——考虑到我父母均为仅受过六到八年级教育的工人，这已经很不错了，但在班上算不上最好。 我还不错，这就是我会用的词，还不错。 我不认为自己特别聪明。多年来，我遇到过许多人，他们天生就有过目不忘的记忆力，一种在学习方面毫不费力的天赋。我的一个小学同学过耳不忘。那不是我，从来都不是我。但在很小的时候，我就已经明白了一件重要的事：我在天资上的不足，可以通过努力来弥补。我可以更加努力，投入更多时间，做更多事情，并且更加认真地去做。 早在读一二年级的时候，我就很努力，试图把每件事都做对。如果不对，我就重新来过。 我反复练习。 我反复练习。 事实证明，大脑是可塑的。我们练习什么，就增强什么。我练习成为一名优秀的学生——这是一种积极的练习，就像一名有抱负的运动员练习投篮一样。像运动员一样，我变得更好了，在学校里越来越得心应手。到三年级时，我已经完全投入学业之中，一路5分，所向披靡。 我要说的是，我从未停止过练习。