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Gerty Cori Facts & Worksheets

Gerty Theresa Cori was a biochemist who was the third woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1947 for Science.

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Gerty Theresa Cori was a biochemist who was the third woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1947 for Science. She was also the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

See the fact file below for more information on the Gerty Cori or alternatively, you can download our 28-page Gerty Cori worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

  • Gerty Cori was born on August 15, 1896, in Prague. She was born Gerty Theresa Radnitz.
  • Her father, Otto Radnitz, was a chemist who invented a successful method of refining sugar. Martha, her mother, was a socialite.
  • Gerty’s early education took place at home before entering a Lyceum for girls in 1906. She graduated in 1912, at the age of 16, and decided she wanted to be a medical doctor.
  • Learning that she lacked the required qualifications to get into medical school, she spent the next year studying the equivalent of eight years of Latin, five years of science, and five years of mathematics.
  • She wrote and passed her university entrance exam at Tetschen Real Gymnasium in 1914, and she began to attend medical school at the German University of Prague.

EARLY CAREER

  • While studying, she met Carl Ferdinand Cori, and they began a relationship. Gerty received her doctorate in medicine in 1920, and Carl graduated, also. That same year, Gerty married Carl Ferdinand Cori.
  • They moved to Vienna, where Gerty spent two years at the Carolinen Children’s Hospital while her husband worked in the laboratory.
  • Gerty worked in the pediatrics unit and conducted experiments comparing temperatures before and after thyroid treatment. She also published papers on blood disorders. Her husband was drafted into the Austrian army and served during World War I. Gerty suffered from xerophthalmia, which was caused by severe malnutrition due to food shortages.

CAREER & RESEARCH

  • Gerty and Carl emigrated to America in 1922, where Carl worked as a biochemist at the State Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease in Buffalo, NY. Gerty worked as an assistant pathologist.
  • Her gender played a role in her not being treated equal to her husband, even though they both had the same training and doctorate degree.
  • In 1925, their joint work began when she was appointed assistant biochemist. They had to fight to be allowed to work together.
  • In 1928, they both became US citizens.
  • They began collaborating on the study of the metabolism of tumors. Later, they turned their attention to carbohydrate metabolism by studying how the body makes and stores energy.
  • Together Gerty and Carl published 50 papers while at Roswell. Gerty published 11 articles as the sole author.
  • In 1929, they proposed the theoretical cycle that describes how the human body uses chemical reactions to break down some carbohydrates, such as glycogen, in muscle tissue into lactic acid while synthesizing others.
  • Gerty and Carl left Roswell in 1931 after publishing their work on carbohydrate metabolism. Carl was offered positions at many universities, but because they wouldn’t offer a position to Gerty, he turned them down.
  • They moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1931, when Washington University offered them both positions. Gerty became a research associate.
  • Gerty gave birth to their only child, Thomas, in 1936.
  • In 1936, they discovered glucose-1-phosphate, a derivative of glucose, the form in which sugar or glucose is stored in muscles. This process became known as the Cori ester. The Cori ester was the beginning step in the conversion of blood glucose to glycogen.
  • Gerty also studied the glycogen storage disease, diabetes, and identified at least four forms, each related to a particular enzymatic defect. Gerty became the first to show that a defect in an enzyme can be the cause of this human genetic disease.
  • In 1938, Gerty Cori was promoted to associate researcher. She was then promoted to associate professor of Research Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology in 1943.
  • In 1946, Gerty and her husband were presented jointly with the Midwest Award, followed by the Squibb Award in Endocrinology in 1947.

CAREER & AWARDS

  • Gerty was promoted to a full professor a few months before Gerty and Carl won the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for their discovery of the catalytic conversion of glycogen in 1947.
  • In 1948, Gerty received the Garvan-Olin Medal. That same year, she received the St. Louis Award.
  • Despite the gender discrimination she faced throughout her life and career, she never stopped pursuing her lifelong interest in medical research.
  • In 1949, Gerty was awarded the Iota Sigma Pi National Honorary Member for her contribution to science.
  • In 1950, Gerty received the Sugar Research prize and then the Borden Award in 1951.

LATER LIFE AND LEGACY

  • Gerty received honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Boston University in 1948, Smith college in 1949, Yale University in 1951, Columbia University in 1954, and the University of Rochester in 1955.
  • Gerty was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science in 1953.
  • Gerty was diagnosed with bone marrow disease in 1947, succumbing to the disease in 1957 from liver failure. She was 61 years old.
  • She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998.
  • Gerty Cori was honored with a stamp by the US Postal Service in April 2008. The 41-cent stamp had her picture and the chemical formula for glucose-1-phosphate, which had an error in it, but they distributed it regardless.

Gerty Cori Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Gerty Cori across 28 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Gerty Cori worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Gerty Theresa Cori who was a biochemist who was the third woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1947 for Science. She was also the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Gerty Cori Facts
  • Gerty Cori Profile
  • Rock Candy
  • True or False
  • Nobel Prizes
  • Find the Words
  • Fill in the Blanks
  • Crossword
  • Women in Medicine
  • Pop Quiz
  • Sugar Density Experiment

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