Katz, Sir Bernard

Katz, Sir Bernard, 1911–2003, British biophysicist, b. Germany, M.D. Univ. of Leipzig, 1934; Ph.D. University College, London, 1938. He was a professor at University College, London, from 1952, having taken a post as a researcher there after World War II. In 1970 Katz was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod for elucidating the action of neurotransmitters. Katz's specific contribution was uncovering the mechanism by which the transmitter acetylcholine is released from the nerve terminals at the nerve-muscle junction. He discovered that its release was continuous and spontaneous and that it occurred in “packets,” now called vesicles, of consistently varying size. He was knighted in 1969.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

• • Cite
  • Print
  • Email
  • Bookmark
    • Add bookmark
    • Add to del.icio.us
    • Digg It!
    • Add to Reddit