1. Early Life and Education
Gerty Cori's early life in Prague and her determination to pursue a medical career laid the foundation for her groundbreaking scientific journey.
1.1. Birth and Family Background
Gerty Theresa Radnitz was born on August 15, 1896, in Prague, then the capital of Bohemia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire (modern Czech Republic). She was the eldest of three daughters in a Jewish family. Her father, Otto Radnitz, was a chemist who became a manager of sugar refineries after inventing a successful method for refining sugar. Her mother, Martha, was a culturally sophisticated woman and a friend of the renowned writer Franz Kafka. Gerty received her initial education through home tutoring before enrolling in a lyceum for girls. The name Gerty was not a nickname but was reportedly derived from an Austrian battleship.
1.2. Decision to Study Medicine
At the age of 16, Gerty decided to pursue a career as a medical doctor, a highly unusual ambition for women at that time, given the limited educational opportunities available to them. She was encouraged by her uncle, a professor of pediatrics. To gain admission to medical school, she discovered she lacked the necessary prerequisites in Latin, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Demonstrating remarkable dedication, she managed to study the equivalent of eight years of Latin, five years of science, and five years of mathematics in just one year. In 1914, she successfully passed the university entrance examination and was admitted to the medical school of the Karl-Ferdinands-Universität in Prague, an exceptional achievement for a woman of her era.
2. Marriage and Emigration
Her time in medical school proved to be a pivotal point, leading to her marriage and a significant decision to emigrate to the United States.
2.1. Meeting Carl Ferdinand Cori and Marriage
While studying at medical school, Gerty met her future husband and fellow researcher, Carl Ferdinand Cori, in an anatomy class. Carl was immediately drawn to her charm, vitality, sense of humor, and shared love for the outdoors, including mountain climbing. Both Gerty and Carl entered medical school at the age of 18 and graduated together in 1920, earning their doctoral degrees. They married in the same year, on August 5, 1920. To facilitate their marriage in the Catholic Church, Gerty converted to Catholicism.
2.2. Early Career in Europe and Emigration to the US
Following their graduation, the Coris moved to Vienna, the capital of Austria. Gerty spent the next two years working at the Carolinen Children's Hospital, while Carl worked in a laboratory. At the hospital, Gerty worked in the pediatrics unit, conducting experiments on temperature regulation, comparing temperatures before and after thyroid treatment, and publishing papers on blood disorders. Life in Europe became increasingly difficult after World War I. Carl had been drafted into the Austrian army and served during the war. Gerty herself suffered from xerophthalmia (dry eye) due to severe malnutrition caused by food shortages. These hardships, combined with the escalating anti-Semitism prevalent in Europe at the time, contributed significantly to the Coris' decision to leave the continent. In 1922, they immigrated to the United States to pursue medical research. Gerty faced difficulties in securing a position and arrived six months after Carl. By 1928, they had both become naturalized citizens of the United States.
3. Scientific Career in the United States
In the United States, Gerty Cori embarked on a full-scale scientific research career, making profound discoveries despite facing significant challenges and discrimination.
3.1. Research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Upon their arrival in the United States, the Coris joined the staff at what later became the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. Gerty was appointed an assistant in biochemistry. Despite their collaborative approach, the director of the institute reportedly threatened to dismiss Gerty if she did not cease her joint research with her husband. However, she persisted in working with Carl and was ultimately retained at the institute.
At Roswell, the Coris specialized in investigating carbohydrate metabolism, particularly focusing on how glucose is metabolized in the human body and the hormones that regulate this process. During their tenure at Roswell, they published fifty papers together. The lead author of each paper was typically the one who had conducted the majority of the research. Notably, Gerty Cori published eleven articles as the sole author. In 1929, they proposed the theoretical cycle that would later earn them the Nobel Prize, known as the Cori cycle. This cycle describes how the human body uses chemical reactions to break down carbohydrates, such as glycogen in muscle tissue, into lactic acid, while also synthesizing others.
3.2. Challenges and Discrimination at Washington University
The Coris left Roswell in 1931 after publishing their extensive work on carbohydrate metabolism. Despite Carl receiving several job offers from various universities, many institutions refused to hire Gerty. During one university interview, Gerty was explicitly told that it was considered "un-American" for a married couple to work together. Carl consistently prioritized their collaboration, even refusing a position at the University at Buffalo because the school would not allow him to work with his wife.
In 1931, they moved to St. Louis, Missouri, when Washington University in St. Louis offered positions to both Carl and Gerty. However, Gerty's rank and salary were significantly lower than her husband's. Despite her extensive research experience, she was offered a position as a research associate in pharmacology with a salary that was only one-tenth of her husband's. She was even warned that her presence might impede her husband's career. The university's Chancellor, Arthur Compton, made a special allowance for Gerty to hold a position there, circumventing the university's nepotism rules. Despite this, Gerty had to wait thirteen years before she attained the same academic rank as her husband. In 1943, she was appointed associate professor of Research Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology. Months before she won the Nobel Prize, she was finally promoted to full professor, a position she held until her death in 1957.
3.3. Discovery of the Cori Cycle
The Cori cycle, proposed by Gerty and Carl Cori in 1929, describes the metabolic pathway in which lactic acid produced by anaerobic glycolysis in muscles is transported to the liver and converted to glucose, which then returns to the muscles to be metabolized again. This cycle elucidates how glycogen-a starch made from glucose-is broken down in muscle tissue into lactic acid and then resynthesized in the body and stored as a source of energy. This fundamental discovery provided crucial insights into the body's energy production and storage mechanisms.
3.4. Identification of Cori Ester and Phosphorylase
While working at Washington University, Gerty and Carl Cori continued their collaborative research, analyzing finely chopped frog muscles. During this work, they discovered an intermediate compound that enabled the breakdown of glycogen, which they named glucose 1-phosphate, later widely known as the Cori ester. They meticulously established the compound's structure and identified the enzyme, phosphorylase, that catalyzed its chemical formation. They deduced that the Cori ester represents the initial step in the conversion of the carbohydrate glycogen into glucose, effectively breaking down energy stores into a usable form. Conversely, they also determined that this reversible process could be the final step in the conversion of blood glucose back into glycogen for storage.
3.5. Research on Glycogen Storage Diseases
Beyond their work on the Cori cycle and ester, Gerty Cori also dedicated significant effort to studying glycogen storage diseases. Her research led to the identification of at least four distinct forms of these diseases, each linked to a specific enzymatic defect. This pioneering work was instrumental in demonstrating for the first time that a defect in a particular enzyme could be the underlying cause of a human genetic disease, a monumental contribution to the understanding of metabolic disorders.
4. Nobel Prize and Recognition
Gerty Cori's exceptional scientific achievements were recognized with the highest honors, including the Nobel Prize, along with numerous other academic and social accolades.
4.1. 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
In 1947, Gerty Cori, along with her husband Carl Cori and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Coris received one half of the prize "for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen," while the other half went to Houssay for his discovery of the role of the anterior pituitary lobe hormone in sugar metabolism. This award held immense historical significance for women in science: Gerty Cori became the third woman ever to win a Nobel Prize in science, the first American woman to do so, and the first woman to be specifically awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Coris also became the third married couple in history to win a Nobel Prize. Their collective work profoundly clarified the mechanisms of carbohydrate metabolism, advancing the understanding of the reversible conversion of sugars and starch, which proved crucial to the development of treatments for diabetes and other metabolic diseases.
4.2. Other Awards and Honors
Gerty Cori received numerous other significant awards and honors throughout her distinguished career. In 1953, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was also the fourth woman to be elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences. President Harry S. Truman appointed her in 1952 as a board member of the National Science Foundation, a position she held until her death.
She was a respected member of several prominent scientific organizations, including the American Society of Biological Chemists, the American Chemical Society, and the American Philosophical Society. Gerty and Carl Cori were jointly presented with the Midwest Award by the American Chemical Society in 1946 and the Squibb Award in Endocrinology in 1947. Individually, Gerty Cori received the Garvan-Olin Medal in 1948, the Women's National Press Award in 1948, the St. Louis Award in 1948, the Sugar Research Prize in 1950, and the Borden Award in 1951. In 1949, she was awarded the Iota Sigma Pi National Honorary Member for her significant contributions. She also received honorary degrees from institutions such as Smith College, Yale University, and Rochester University. In 1949, she was among 12 women honored at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, during the first medical degree ceremony specifically for women.
4.3. Scientific Legacy and Commemoration
Gerty Cori's research left a lasting impact on biochemistry and medicine, and her contributions have been widely commemorated. In 2004, the twenty-five square foot (25 ft2 (2.3 m2)) laboratory shared by Cori and her husband at Washington University was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society, recognizing their pivotal work in clarifying carbohydrate metabolism. The Coris were also exceptional mentors; six scientists who were mentored by Gerty and Carl went on to win Nobel Prizes themselves, a number only surpassed by those mentored by British physicist J. J. Thomson.
Her name has been immortalized in the cosmos: the crater Cori on the Moon and the Cori crater on Venus are named after her. She shares a star with her husband on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. In 1998, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
In April 2008, Cori was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 41-cent postage stamp. Although the stamp was reported by the Associated Press to have a printing error in the chemical formula for glucose-1-phosphate (Cori ester), it was distributed nonetheless. The stamp's description reads: "Biochemist Gerty Cori (1896-1957), in collaboration with her husband, Carl, made important discoveries-including a new derivative of glucose-that elucidated the steps of carbohydrate metabolism and contributed to the understanding and treatment of diabetes and other metabolic diseases. In 1947, the couple was awarded a half share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine."
In the realm of computing, the US Department of Energy named the NERSC-8 supercomputer, installed at Berkeley Lab in 2015/2016, after Cori. In November 2016, NERSC's Cori supercomputer ranked 5th on the TOP500 list of the world's most powerful high-performance computers. Gerty Cori is particularly celebrated as a pioneer woman of science, especially given the significant prejudice she experienced as a woman throughout her lifetime.
5. Final Years and Death
Despite facing a serious illness, Gerty Cori remained dedicated to her scientific pursuits until her final days.
5.1. Illness and Continued Research
Just before winning the Nobel Prize, while on a mountain climbing trip, Gerty Cori was diagnosed with myelosclerosis, a fatal disease affecting the bone marrow. She believed that her illness might have been contributed to by her work with X-rays, studying their effects on the human body, during her years at the Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease. Despite her deteriorating health, she struggled with the illness for ten years, demonstrating remarkable determination by continuing her scientific work. It was only in the final months of her life that she began to reduce her laboratory activities.
5.2. Death and Posthumous Evaluation
Gerty Cori passed away at her home on October 26, 1957, due to kidney failure. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered. Later, her son, Tom Cori, erected a cenotaph for both Gerty and Carl Cori in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. Gerty was survived by her husband and their only child, Tom Cori, who later married the daughter of conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. Carl Cori remarried in 1960 to Anne Fitzgerald-Jones. They subsequently moved to Boston, where Carl taught at Harvard Medical School, continuing his work there until his death in 1984 at the age of 87. Renowned broadcaster Edward R. Murrow praised Gerty Cori's dedication, intellectual sincerity, steadfastness, and professionalism in her contributions to biochemistry.