Henrietta Lacks (1920–1951) was an African-American woman whose cervical cancer cells, taken without her knowledge during treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital, became the first immortal human cell line, known as HeLa. These cells have been vital to countless scientific breakthroughs, including the development of the polio vaccine and advances in cancer research, genetics, and virology. Though she died at age 31, her legacy endures through the ongoing use of HeLa cells in medical research worldwide.