The woman named on the Moon

The Cori hole on the Moon is named after the American scientist Gerty Theresa Cori (1896-1957). This is the co-discoverer of the ‘Cori cycle’, a discovery especially useful for the treatment of diabetes.
Leaving home to find the way to research

Mrs. Gerty Theresa Cori is an American Jewish biochemist. She and her husband, Carl Cori, began studying carbohydrate metabolism when they were medical students at the University of Prague. When Gerty was a child, her father had diabetes, he wished his daughter would find a way to cure the disease. Gerty did not disappoint dad. In 1947, after 30 years of hard work, she and her husband were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of glycogen transformation under the action of catalysts. Glycogen is a derivative of glucose that is dissolved and re-synthesized in the body for use as an energy source and storehouse. She was born in Prague in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now the Czech Republic) into a Jewish family. She is the eldest of three daughters of the grandparents Martha and Otto Radnitz, the manager of a sugar mill. She received tutoring at home and then went to a girls’ high school. Her uncle, a professor of pediatrics, encouraged her to pursue medicine and in 1914 she was admitted to Charles University in Prague. At that time, there were very few female students. While studying here, she met Carl Ferdinand Cori. Both have interests in laboratory research. The couple went home in 1920. That same year they got a Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of Prague. Both gave birth to a son. Mrs. Gerty Theresa Cori Carl moves to Vienna where Gerty works in a children’s hospital and Carl works in a university laboratory. As a result of the war, food was scarce for the people of Europe at that time. Gerty was given supplements at the hospital, but she turned it down because she felt the patient needed them more. She contracted xerophthalmia, a disease related to a lack of vitamins. This combined with increased anti-Semitism caused the Cori family to decide to emigrate. Together they moved to the US and worked at the Roswell Park Cancer Research Institute in Buffalo, New York. After a long time together, they naturalized the United States in 1928 and continued their studies to serve mankind. The Cori and his wife published 50 essays together while working at the Roswell Institute. Those who do most of the research should put their names first (those who do less, put their names behind) in that essay. Mrs. Gerty has published 11 separate essays. In 1929, they both proposed a theory called “Cori cycle”, which explains the movement of energy in the body: From tissue, muscle to liver and back to tissue, muscle. The Cori cycle is the explanation for the movement of energy in the body. Glycogen in muscles is converted to sugar (glucose) when energy is needed to provide physical activity, but muscles leave some sugar in the form of lactic acid for later use. Lactic acid is recycled by the liver into glycogen, which is then stored in muscles until needed. Their discovery of this process is particularly useful for the treatment of diabetes but this is also the first time that the cycle of carbohydrates in the human body is fully understood and explained. This theory subsequently earned them the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Integrity, courage and professionalism She and her husband left the Roswell Institute after publishing research on carbohydrate metabolism. They have received numerous awards for their isolation and discovery of the compound glucose-1 phosphate (later known as the Cori ester). Many universities invited Mr. Carl to work but rejected Mrs. Gerty. In 1931 they moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where Carl was offered a job as professor of pharmacology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Although he specializes in research, Gerty is only invited to be a research assistant. In 1947, when Carl became Head of the Department of Biochemistry, Gety was promoted to professor, a position she assumed until her death. The Cori couple in the laboratory at the University of Washington In 1952, US President Harry S. Truman appointed her to the National Science Council. Dr. Gerty has received many honors and awards throughout his life, notably the Squibb Prize for Endocrinology in 1947; the National Journalism Prize for Women in 1948; National Academy of Sciences Sugar Research Prize 1950 … She received honorary degrees from the schools: Smith College, Yale University and the University of Rochester. In the summer of 1947, she began to feel symptoms of Myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow disease. For 10 years, she continued her work, endured pain and refused to stop working in the laboratory. On October 26, 1957, she died of kidney failure. Renowned announcer Edward R. Murrow has praised her dedication, wisdom, integrity, courage and professionalism in the pursuit of medicine and biochemistry. Her image was also honored to appear on US postage stamps in 2008. The Cori Hole on the Moon is named after her. She also shares a “star” with her husband on St. Avenue of Fame. Louis.