Gerty Theresa Cori
carlyo | January 28, 2014Gerty Theresa Cori -- Biochemist
Often considered one of the greatest women scientists of the 20th century. The first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine; known for her discovery (with husband Carl Cori and physiologist Bernardo Houssay) of how the body metabolizes glucose
Born Gerty Theresa Radnitz in 1896 in Prague (then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now the Czech Republic), Gerty grew up at a time when women were marginalized in science and allowed few educational opportunities. However, at age sixteen and influenced by her uncle, (who was a professor of…