Hairpin
When Lily first joined the school, Gordon and Linus could immediately tell how she was different from her peers—not only did she remember the facts rather well, but she held an inquisitive attitude about the nature of things in the world, an attribute that was crucial to a scientist. While it wasn't clear what it was about her that wowed Gordon, Linus knew well of these attributes she possessed, remembering from his far past the days he exchanged thoughts with scientific geniuses.
Every time Linus checked on how much the lass had progressed with the newly taught skills and knowledge, he was taken aback by her ability to present her learnings in a different light. If the creation of penicillin was hard and dreadful enough for most people to remember and do well, Lily found it too boring just to replicate what she learned that she had to improvise.