Gerty Radnitz Cori was the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in Science. She was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on August 15, 1896. At the age of 18, she entered medical school at the Carl Ferdinand University of Prague. Here she became fascinated with biochemistry because it applied chemistry to solve biological problems. In 1920 she married Carl Cori, whom she had known since the beginning of medical school. Unstable political and economic conditions in Europe forced them to emigrate. In 1922, Carl Cori took a position at the New York State Institute for the Study of Malignant Diseases in Buffalo. Gerty arrived six months later, after Carl had found her a position as an assistant pathologist at the Institute. They became U.S. citizens in 1931.

Through the careful studies they carried out at the New York State Institute in Buffalo, they developed their theory of "the cycle of carbohydrates", now known as "The Cori Cycle". The theory explains how carbohydrates supply energy to the muscles during exercise and then how the carbohydrates are regenerated and stored in the body until needed again by the muscles. In the late 1920s, the Coris looked for another institution in which to carry out their research, and Carl was offered several positions. He finally accepted the chairmanship of the pharmacology department at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, because Gerty would also be able to hold a position as research associate. Here they continued to work on the mechanisms within "The Cori Cycle". By 1938, they were isolating and studying the enzymes involved. In 1944, Gerty Cori was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor at Washington University. Three years later, she became a full professor and shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with her husband for their discovery of the enzymes that convert glycogen into sugar and back again.

1. The Nobel Prize Internet Archive: Gerty Theresa Cori
2. National Women's Hall of Fame: Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori
3. Women in American History: Cori, Gerty Theresa Radnitz
4. Nobel e-Museum: Biography of Gerty Radnitz Cori

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