
Dr. Torriani-Gorini was a native of Milan, Italy. She earned a Ph.D. in botany at the University of Milan and then served as a research associate at the Giulio Ronzoni Institute for Chemical and Biochemical Research in Milan. From 1950 to 1956 she served on the faculty of the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
Professor Torriani-Gorini came to the United States in 1956 and joined the faculty of the department of microbiology at the New York University School of Medicine. She then spent two years as a research associate at Harvard University before joining the department of biology at MIT in 1960. She earned tenure and was promoted to associate professor in 1971 and was named a full professor five years later in 1976. She retired from MIT and assumed emerita status in 1989.


