CORI, Gerty Theresa, née Radnitz, Czech/American biochemist, 1896-1957. Her husband Carl was also a prominent biochemist, they were from Prague and went to the USA in 1922. At first they worked in the NY State Institution for the Study of Malignant Diseases, but later moved to Washington U. in St Louis (where their best work was done). In 1947 Gerty was awarded the Nobel Prize for demonstrating glycogen’s metabolic relation to energy production, the award was jointly with Carl. Both had studied glycogen from the 1930s. Gerty had found a compound in muscle tissue, which turned out to be glucose-1-phosphate. It became known as the Cori Ester. By following the metabolism of this phosphorylated sugar, the reactions in glycolytic and glycogenolytic pathways became meaningful. Gerty was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Related further reading...