Science Fact Finder | General Science and Technology - Who Was The First American Woman To Win A Nobel Prize And How Many Women Have Received The Prize?

Who was the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize and how many women have received the prize?

Czechoslovakian-born biochemist (a scientist specializing in the study of the chemical substances and vital processes occurring in living organisms) Gerty T. Cori (1896-1957) was the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine, in 1947. Cori shared the prize with her husband, Carl Ferdinand Cori (1896-1984), for work on glycogen conversion. Glycogen is a complex sugar that becomes converted into the simple sugar glucose in the body.

The first native-born American woman to be honored was Rosalyn S. Yallow (1921-). Yallow shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine with two male associates. The award was given for their work on hormones in body chemistry.

As of 1995, only ten women had received the Nobel Prize in chemistry, physics, or physiology and...

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