Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Gerty Cori

Gerty Theresa Cori and her husband Carl Ferdinand Cori in the lab Photo sourced from Wikimedia

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Gerty Cori

Gerty Theresa Cori, born on August 15th, 1896  was an Austro-Hungarian and American biochemist who in 1947 was the third woman to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for her significant role in the “discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen”

Her achievements in the medicine field makes her one of the most famous and renowned people from across the globe. Let’s take a look some of the most astonishing facts about her;

1.Cori was born in Prague in 1896 to a Jewish family 

Gerty Cori was born Gerty Theresa Radnitz into a Jewish family in Prague in 1896. Her father, Otto Radnitz, was a chemist who became manager of sugar refineries after inventing a successful method for refining sugar while her mother, Martha, was a culturally sophisticated woman.

Her name Gerty was not a common name and was not a nickname either, but rather she was named after an Austrian warship. She grew up and was home trained until she was 16,she could go on from this place to become one if the most renowned . 

2.Gerty was home tutored until she was 16

Opportunities for women and young girls to go to school were very few when she was growing up so, Gerty was tutored at home before enrolling in a lyceum for girls, and at the age of 16. When she finally joined school, she decided that she wanted to be a medical doctor.

However, she soon realized that, pursuing the study of science was not that easy and that she lacked, prerequisites in Latin, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. She was so determined to pursue that course to an extent that over the course of a year, she managed to study the equivalent of eight years of Latin, five years of science, and five years of mathematics. 

Read more about her in 10 Famous Female Doctors That Made an Impact

3.She was encouraged to study medicine by her uncle who was a professor of pediatrics

She was encouraged to study medicine by her uncle. He was a professor of pediatrics and tutored one of the country’s top universities. He encouraged her to attend medical school and she liked the idea and studied for and passed the university entry exam. 

 She was admitted to the medical school of the Karl-Ferdinands-Universität in Prague in 1914, an unusual achievement for women at that time. She could go on to become one of the school’s top performer and among the world’s best students after graduating with the highest grades. 

4.Gerty received her PhD in medicine from Germany university of Prague

Gerty Theresa Cori Photo sourced from Wikimedia

She was so determined to receive the highest level of education and continued studying to the extent she finally received her PhD in medicine from the German University of Prague’s Medical School in 1920.She was one of the few people with a PhD at this time and among the first women. 

She could work for a short while after graduating at the Carolinen Children’s Hospital with and her husband. While at the hospital, Gerty Cori worked on the pediatrics unit and conducted experiments in temperature regulation, but soon found life hard in Europe and moved to the US with her husband after the world war 2.

5.She married her classmate Carl Cori while whom she met at the University

Gerty and Carl Cori at the Nobel Prize Photo sourced from Wikimedia

While still at the university she met Carl Cori, who was immediately attracted to her charm, vitality, sense of humor, and her love of the outdoors and mountain climbing and feel in love with each other. The two lovers cold soon decide to marry each other. 

Surprising Gerty and Carl had both entered medical school at eighteen and both graduated in 1920. They married that same year, after Gerty had converted to Catholic Christianity, which enabling her and Carl to marry in the Catholic Church in a very beautiful wedding. 

6. Gerty worked with her husband in her entire career

Another fascinating fact about Gerty is that she worked with her husband in her entire career and though they were warned not to be working together at some of  organizations like Roswell, they continued to do so, specializing in investigating carbohydrate metabolism.

They were particularly interested in how glucose is metabolized in the human body and the hormones that regulate this process. They could later become successful as a couple and even won a Noble Prize for their combined efforts in the medicine field, a feat very few had been able to do. 

7.She became the third woman and first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in science

Gerty Theresa Cori and her husband Carl Ferdinand Cori in the lab Photo sourced from Wikimedia

Gerty Cori became the third woman and the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in science, with first two previous recipients being Marie Curie and Irène Joliot-Curie. She was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1953, therefore becoming the fourth woman to be  elected to the National Academy of Sciences. She was also appointed by President Harry S. Truman as board member of the National Science Foundation, a position she held until her death.

Read more about the Nobel Prize here 

8.Some of the scientists they mentored became Nobel Prize winners

Some of the scientists they mentored became Nobel Prize winners, infact six of their scientists mentored by Cori and her husband went on to win Nobel Prizes, a feat which is only surpassed by the number of scientists mentored by the British physicist J.J. Thomson.

The twenty-five square foot laboratory shared by Cori and her husband at Washington University was also deemed a National Historic Landmark by the American Chemical Society in 2004,because of their achievements and the government’s decision to honor them. 

9.Several places and historical landmarks in the US are named in her honor

Several places and historical landmarks in the US are named in her honor, including; The US Department of Energy named the NERSC-8 supercomputer installed at Berkeley Lab in 2015/2016 after Cori, The crater Cori on the Moon is named after her, and as is the Cori crater on Venus. 

She was also inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998 making her one if the very first women to be inducted into the hall of fame and she also shares a star with her husband on the St. Louis Walk of Fame an honor very few people in the world have been able to achieve. 

10.She died aged 61 on October 26th 1957 in her home in Glendale, Missouri, U.S

She died aged 61 on October 26th 1957 in her home in Glendale, Missouri, U.S. She died of myelosclerosis, a fatal disease of the bone marrow. During her years at the Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease, Gerty had worked with X-rays, studying their effects on the human body, which may have contributed to the disease. 

She was survived by her husband and their only child, Tom Cori, who married the daughter of conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. Gerty was cremated and her ashes scattered. Later, her son erected a cenotaph for Gerty and Carl Cori in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.