Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori a science pioneer

Dr. Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori with husband Dr. Carl F. Cori.

It was early in the 20th century (1905) when the Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded to a woman – Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner, a leader of the international peace movement. It took nearly another half century before the Nobel Prize was awarded to a woman in the sciences. On Dec. 10, 1947, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Dr. Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori jointly with her husband Dr. Carl F. Cori, and Dr. Bernardo A. Houssay.

The scientists were honored for their research in identifying the “Cori Cycle” that reveals how the body converts carbohydrates into sugars that supply muscles with energy. This research was particularly important in leading to an understanding of and treatment for diabetes.

Gerty Cori met Carl during their first year at the Medical School of the German University in Prague. They co-published a paper on immune bodies in disease while still in medical school; upon graduation they continued their research in Vienna. It wasn’t long before they made the decision to leave Europe because of the rampant rise of anti-Semitism.

Carl was offered a position in Buffalo, New York; Gerty followed six months later when an assistant pathologist position became available. In 1931, after refusing a position at a university that would prohibit Gerty from working with him, Carl accepted the chairmanship of the pharmacology department at Washington University in St. Louis. Once again, Gerty was hired as a research assistant at a nominal salary.

It was not until 1946, when Carl was appointed Washington University’s chairman of biochemistry, that Gerty was promoted to associate professor; and it was not until she was awarded the Nobel Prize that she became a full professor. In the late 1940s scientists from all over the world flocked to the university to work with Carl and Gerty; six subsequently were awarded the Nobel Prize.

In the NPR series “This I Believe,” Gerty Cori spoke about her lifelong values. “Honesty, which stands mostly for intellectual integrity, courage, and kindness, are still the virtues I admire, though with advancing years the emphasis has been slightly shifted and kindness seems more important to me (now) than in my youth. The love for, and dedication to one’s work seem to me to be the basis for happiness.”

To date, out of a total of 195 scientists, 10 females have been awarded the Nobel Prize.

TOBY ROSSNER (tobyross@cox.net) was the director of media services at the Bureau of Jewish Education from 1978 to 2002. This is part of an occasional series on Jewish female scientists.