George Washington Corner

Abstract

George W. Corner (1889-1981) was a pioneer investigator of the menstrual cycle who played a key role in the discovery of progesterone. Regarded as the greatest living anatomist of his day in America and an international leader in reproductive endocrinology for decades, he achieved even more over a long career. Besides being a beloved teacher, popular author, biographer, administrator, and scientific statesman, he was a distinguished scholar of medical history, notably studying medieval medicine in Salerno and synthesizing science and philosophy about the origins of life from the time of Aristotle until von Baer’s discovery of the mammalian ovum.