Born Gerty Theresa Radnitz into a Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She received her primary education at home and later attended an academy for girls, graduating at 16. Inspiring to become a doctor, she completed a year of the necessary studies required for the medical school’s application, including Latin, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. In 1914, at 18, she began her studies at the medical school of the Karl-Ferdinands-Universität in Prague. During school, she met fellow medical student Carl Cori, and they married right after receiving their degree in 1920. Afterward, they moved to Vienna, where she worked at the Carolinen Children’s Hospital, conducting experiments in temperature regulation and publishing papers on blood disorders. Health problems caused by malnutrition during WW1 and the increasing anti-Semitism drove the Coris to leave Europe, and in 1922, they immigrated to the US. They worked together at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, focusing on carbohydrate metabolism, researching the glucose metabolizing in the body and how hormones regulate the process. The couple published fifty papers on the subject, eleven with Cori as the sole author. In 1929, the Coris introduced the Cori cycle, which describes the cellular process in which the body stores sugar in muscles as glycogen, converts it to glucose in the liver, and sends it back to the muscles for energy. Although the Coris were equal in their work, they were not treated as such, and she experienced much chauvinism and prejudice. When the couple looked for an institute that would enable them to work together, they were refused because of Cori’s gender or because, as one university stated, it is “un-American for a married couple to work together.” Eventually, in 1931, the Coris received an offer from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Although they could collaborate, she was offered a research associate position at one-tenth of her husband’s salary. It took 13 years before she was appointed associate professor of Research Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology and four more years to be promoted to full professor, serving in this position until she died. While at Washington University, the Coris continued to research the action mechanism of hormones and discovered what would be known as the Cori ester – a compound in frog muscles that helps to break down glycogen. They also found the enzyme that created the compound and identified that it’s the first step in turning stored energy (glycogen) into glucose. In addition, Cori researched glycogen storage disease by herself and identified several forms related to enzymatic defects. She was the first to present how these defects can cause human genetic disorders. In 1947, for their discovery of the Cori cycle, the Coris won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; she became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first American woman, and the third in the world to win a Nobel Prize in Science. Months before winning the Nobel prize, Cori was diagnosed with myelosclerosis, a bone marrow disease. With declining health, she continued researching and discovering new enzymes and their relations to various health problems. She was also a member of several societies, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Society of Biological Chemists. She died at 61. Read more...

Born Anna Mae Bullock into a sharecropping family in Brownsville, Tennessee. Growing up, she frequently moved from one place to another, living with her paternal grandparents in Nutbush, where she sang in the church choir, and later with her maternal grandmother in Brownsville until she reunited with her mother in St. Louis, Missouri. As a teenager, she worked as a domestic worker, and after graduating high school, she worked as a nurse’s aide. At the time, she frequently went to R&B clubs, where she first saw Ike Turner perform with his band, the Kings of Rhythm. Soon, she joined the band as a featured vocalist. In 1960, under the stage name Tina Turner, she recorded the single “A Fool in Love,” which reached No. 2 on the Hot R&B Sides chart and No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. Not long after, the two became a couple and married; together, they toured the US and released numerous singles. In 1966, the duo signed with the producer Phil Spector and released their first album, River Deep – Mountain High, which became a hit, especially in Europe. Despite their success, Ike was physically and mentally abusive toward Turner, and in 1976, at the age of 37, Tina fled from their home with only 36 cents in her pocket. In the following years, Tina struggled to manage herself. She mainly performed in cabaret clubs and made numerous guest appearances alongside various artists. In 1984, at 45, she released her first solo album, Private Dancer, which received critical and commercial acclaim, selling over 20 million copies worldwide and earning her three Grammys. In 1986, her European record label (EMI) sent the German music executive Erwin Bach to greet her at the airport. A few months later, they became a couple (he was 16 years her junior) and married in 2013. Her success continued to grow with her following albums, Break Every Rule (1986), Foreign Affair (1989), and Wildest Dreams (1996). She reached no.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the lists with various singles, including What’s Love Got to Do With It, Typical Male, and The Best. As music genres changed in the 90s, Turner delved into rock while combining her R&B background. Her powerful and soulful voice made her known as one of the greatest vocalists in the music industry, as it was characterized by the combination of strength and grit while possessing a wide vocal range, allowing her to navigate between lower registers and higher octaves. In 1994, at 55, Turner moved to Zurich, Switzerland. She continued to record albums and release singles, including the James Bond title song “Goldeneye,” and “He Lives in You” for The Lion King 2. Over the next decade, Turner remained active in the music industry. She released successful compilation albums such as “Wildest Dreams” (1995) and “Twenty-Four Seven” (1999), as well as a studio album titled “All the Best” (2004). Turner also embarked on world tours and, made live appearances, performed at benefit concerts. In 2008, 69 years old Turner embarked on her Tina! The 50th Anniversary Tour became a massive success and a top-selling ticketed show in 2008 and 2009. She announced that this would be her farewell tour, and afterward, she would retire from the music industry. However, she occasionally made appearances and continued to record new materials. In 2013, at 73, Turner married her longtime partner, German record executive Erwin Bach. Three months afterward, she suffered a stroke and had to learn how to walk again. Three years later, she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer, and the following year, she had a kidney transplant with her husband as her donor. Over the years, Turner participated in philanthropic work. She established the Tina Turner Foundation to support various causes, including art education, fighting against human trafficking, and improving the lives of underprivileged children. Throughout her career, Turner recorded ten albums, selling over 200 million records, went on dozen tours, and received hundreds of awards and honors, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center Honors – the highest form of recognition of excellence in the arts in America, US. Her music and life story have inspired many people, including musicians such as Mick Jagger, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and Mary J. Blige. She died at 83 in Switzerland. Read more...

Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone was born in Metropolis, Illinois, the tenth of eleven children of formerly enslaved parents. Her parents died when she was young, and she moved to nearby Peoria to live with her sister. There, she attended high school and developed an interest in chemistry. She was also fascinated with hair, often styling her sister’s hair and becoming aware of the differences between hair textures. These days, women used soap, heavy oils, goose fat, and bacon grease to straighten curly hair, which irritated the scalp and damaged the hair. Combining her love of hair and chemistry, she began experimenting on herself, developing a hair product that straightened black hair with no side effects. In 1900, at the age of 31, Turnbo moved to Lovejoy (today Brooklyn, Illinois) and began manufacturing a line of hair straightener products, including a hair-stimulant for African-American women, “Wonderful Hair Grower.” Her target customers were black women who could not access traditional distribution places, so Turnbo promoted her products by going door-to-door and offering free demonstrations. After achieving success in the local market, she wanted to expand her clientele and moved to St. Louis, MO, where she hired three employees who continued her door-to-door method. Soon after, she opened her first shop. Turnbo held news conferences and went on tours throughout the South to promote her products, giving demonstrations and recruiting women as local sales agents. By 1910, she broadened her line to include cosmetics, and under the label Poro, she manufactured lipstick, shades, cold cream, face powder, and her famous hair grower. In 1914, at the age of 45, Turnbo married her second husband, Aaron Eugene Malone, and appointed him as the company’s chief manager and president. In 1918, she founded a cosmetology school called Poro College. The college curriculum included classes on nurturing and styling black hair as well as personal coaching on how to walk, talk, and dress as a “Poro agent.” The college building had a retail store, manufacturing plant, auditorium, offices, chapel, gymnasium, and dormitory. It served as a community center and a meeting place for organizations such as the National Negro Business League. The center became a source of employment for many African Americans, especially women. Through the school and the Poro franchise, Turnbo’s business employed almost 75,000 women in the US, South America, Africa, and the Philippines. By the 1920s, Turnbo became one of the wealthiest African American women, with an estimated worth of $14 million. Despite her wealth, she lived modestly, donating thousands of dollars to various establishments, such as the local black YMCA, the Tuskegee Institute, and the Howard University College of Medicine, in addition to supporting two students in every black land-grant college in the US. In 1927, at the age of 58, Turnbo divorced her husband. He forced her into a court battle in which he demanded half of its value as the company’s president. She reached a settlement that affirmed her as the business’s sole owner but harmed the business’s financial worth. Three years later, she relocated her business to Chicago to a city block she bought. During the 40s-50s, she spent much of her time fighting lawsuits in court, first from a former employee who claimed credit for her success and then from the government for unpaid taxes. Eventually, she had to sell most of her properties to pay her debts. Afterward, the business continued to operate but on a significantly smaller scale. Turnbo continued to run her business until she died of a stroke at the age of 87. Read more...

Born as Maud Stevens in Lyon County, Kansas. She became an acrobat and worked in various traveling circuses as an aerialist and contortionist in her youth. At the age of 27 (1904), while performing at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, she met Gus Wagner, a tattoo artist known as the Tattooed Globetrotter. He liked her, and she was fascinated by the art of tattoos, so they agreed on a barter: a date in exchange for a tattooing lesson. She became his canvas and later a tattoo artist herself. Even though the modern machine was available, they used the hand-poked method, working with a manual stick, the last tattoo artists to continue tattooing with the traditional technique.   After a few years, they got married, and soon after, they left the circus to travel in the US, working as tattoo artists and tattooed attractions, performing in vaudeville houses and county fairs. Their traveling brought tattoo artistry from the coastal cities to the inland, growing this art in the US and making it approachable to all, not only sailors and circus performers. Her tattoos were typical for the early 20th century, including patriotic symbols, women, lions, snakes, butterflies, horses, monkeys, and trees. She even tattooed her name on her arm. At a time when women had limited rights and many social restrictions, she was one of those who broke down the barriers, not only getting tattoos but becoming the first woman in the US to be known as a tattoo artist. Read more...