Gerty Cori

Carl and Gerty, who were fellow students, got married in the year 1920, just after graduation.

They went to United States, in the break of war and got citizenship in the year 1928. Their only son Carl Thomas was born eight years later.

In the year 1947, Gerty was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis which is an unusual disease of the bone marrow. Although the ailment which caused her great pain, she continued with her research work.

Gerty, a Jewish was born on 15th of August, in 1896, in Prague. She was the oldest child of Otto and Martha Radnitz. Her father was in a managerial position in one of the sugar refineries.

Till the age of ten she was home schooled, and in 1906, she went to a Lyceum for girls.

In 1912 she graduated and studied for the qualifying examination to enrol in the University. Two years later, she took the test and passed at the ‘Tetschen Realgymnasium’.

At sixteen Gerty decided to opt for medicine for further studies. The decision was influenced by an uncle, who was a teacher in medicine at the ‘University of Prague’.

Gerty was accepted in the ‘Medical School’ in the ‘University of Prague’, and in 1920, she received the Doctorate in Medicine.

Gerty and Carl got married after graduation and were invited to work in various clinics in Vienna. While working in Vienna, they understood the implications of the impending war and started applying for positions overseas.

Gerty worked in ‘Carolinen Children’s Hospital’ for two years, before she shifted to America with her husband Carl.

In 1922, they moved to Buffalo, where Carl was offered a position at the ‘State Institute for the Study of Malignant Diseases’. Initially Gerty was offered a junior position, that of an assistant pathologist. The institute later came to be known as ‘Roswell Park Memorial Institute’.

During their years in Roswell, they were discouraged to work together, but their fruitful scientific endeavour was proven by the fact that they jointly published fifty research papers in Roswell.

In 1929, the scientific couple came up with the theory which later prompted the nomination for Nobel Prize.

Among all her work, the most famous is the ‘theory of Cori cycle’ which explained the metabolism of glucose in the body. According to the theory, some portion of the carbohydrates, in particular glycogen is converted by the muscles to lactic acid which is then reconverted to glycogen by the liver so that it can be utilised by the muscles.