Gerty Theresa Cori (August 15, 1896 - October 26, 1957) was an American biochemist who became the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. With husband Carl and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay, Gerty Cori received the Nobel Prize in 1947 for the discovery of the mechanism by which glycogen is broken down in muscle tissue into lactic acid and then re-synthesized in the body and stored as a source of energy (known as the Cori cycle). In 1957, Gerty Cori died after a ten year struggle with myelosclerosis. She remained active in the research laboratory until the end. Carl Ferdinand Cori (December 5, 1896 - October 20, 1984) was a Czech biochemist and pharmacologist. In 1914 he entered the medical school of Charles University in Prague. While studying there he met Gerty Theresa Radnitz. At the end of the war he completed his studies, graduating with Gerty in 1920. In 1931 he accepted a position at the Washington University School of Medicine. He was appointed visiting professor of Biological Chemistry at Harvard University while maintaining a laboratory space at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he pursued research in genetics. He died in 1984 at the age of 87.