Bernard Katz 215426 219789432 2008-06-16T21:50:08Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other {{Infobox_Scientist | name = Bernard Katz | image = replace this image male.svg |image_width = 160px |caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1911|3|26|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Leipzig]], [[Germany]]. |residence = |nationality = | death_date = {{death date|2003|4|20|df=y}} (Age 92) | death_place = [[London]], [[England]]. | death_cause = |field = [[Neurophysiology]] |work_institution = [[University College London]].<br>[[Sydney Hospital]]. |alma_mater = [[University of Leipzig]] |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = Neurophysiology of the synapse |prizes = [[Image:Nobel prize medal.svg|20px]] [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (1970) |religion = |footnotes = }} '''Sir Bernard Katz''', [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] ([[March 26]], [[1911]] &ndash; [[April 20]], [[2003]]) was a [[Germany|German]]-born [[biophysics|biophysicist]], noted for his work on [[nerve]] [[biochemistry]]. He shared the [[Nobel Prize]] in [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|physiology or medicine]] in 1970 with [[Julius Axelrod]] and [[Ulf von Euler]]. He was [[British honours system|knighted]] in 1970. Born in [[Leipzig]] to a [[Jewish]] family, Germany, he was educated at the [[Albert Gymnasium]] in that city from 1921 to 1929 and went on to study medicine at the [[University of Leipzig]]. He graduated in 1934 and fled to Britain in February 1935, the rise of [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] having made his Russian-Jewish heritage dangerous. He went to work at [[University College London]], initially under the tutelage of [[Archibald Vivian Hill]]. He finished his PhD in 1938 and won a [[Carnegie Fellowship]] to study with [[John Carew Eccles]] at [[Sydney Hospital]]. He was naturalised in 1941 and joined the [[Royal Australian Air Force]] in 1942. He spent the war in the Pacific as a [[radar]] officer. He married Marguerite Penly in 1945 and returned to UCL as an assistant director in 1946. Back in [[England]] he also worked with the 1963 Nobel prize winners [[Alan Hodgkin]] and [[Andrew Huxley]]. Katz was made a professor at UCL in 1952 and head of biophysics, he was also elected to the [[Royal Society]]. He stayed as head of biophysics until 1978 when he became emeritus professor. At the age of 92, he died in London April 20, 2003. His research uncovered fundamental properties of [[synapse]]s, the junctions across which nerve cells signal to each other and to other types of cells. By the 1950s, he was studying the biochemistry and action of [[acetylcholine]], a [[neurotransmitter|signalling molecule]] with which synapses linking "motor nerves" to [[muscle]]s stimulate contraction. Katz won the Nobel for his discovery that neurotransmitter release at synapses is "quantal"--that is, that at any particular synapse the amount of neurotransmitter released is never less than a certain amount, and if more is always an integral number times this amount. This circumstance arises, scientists now know, because, prior to their release into the synaptic gap, transmitter molecules reside in like-sized subcellular packages known as synaptic [[vesicle (biology)|vesicle]]s (more at [[exocytosis]]). Katz's work had immediate influence on the study of [[organophosphate]]s and [[organochlorine]]s, the basis of new post-war study for [[nerve agent]]s and [[pesticide]]s, as he determined that the complex enzyme cycle was easily disrupted. == References == {{Unreferenced|date=December 2007}} <references /> == Further reading == * {{cite journal|url=http://ep.physoc.org/cgi/issue_pdf/frontmatter_pdf/74/1.pdf|format=PDF|title=School of Katz|date=1990|journal=Quarterly Journal of Experimental Biology}} ==External links== * [http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1970/katz-bio.html Sir Bernard Katz Biography]. Nobel Foundation * [http://education.guardian.co.uk/obituary/story/0,12212,942442,00.html Guardian Obituary] * [http://www.ans.org.au/obit.htm Australian Neuroscience Society Obituary] * Sabbatini, R.M.E.: [http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n17/history/neurons5_i.htm Neurons and synapses. The history of its discovery IV. Chemical transmission]. ''Brain & Mind'', 2004. * [http://www.physoc.org/publications/pn/archive/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=65 Physiology Online, PhysiologyNews, Issue 52, Autumn 2003] * [http://www.deutsches-museum-bonn.de/zeitzeugen/katz/katz_e.html Bernard Katz: "An autobiographical sketch"] * [http://www.albertiner.de König-Albert-Gymnasium Leipzig] {{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1951-1975}} <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] --> {{Persondata |NAME= Katz, Bernard |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |SHORT DESCRIPTION= Nobel Prize - [[Neurophysiology]] |DATE OF BIRTH= 26 March 1911 |PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Leipzig]], [[Germany]]. |DATE OF DEATH= 20 April 2003 |PLACE OF DEATH= [[London]], [[England]]. }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, Bernard}} [[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]] [[Category:British neuroscientists]] [[Category:Australian neuroscientists]] [[Category:German neuroscientists]] [[Category:English Jews]] [[Category:German Jews]] [[Category:Jewish scientists]] [[Category:1911 births]] [[Category:2003 deaths]] [[Category:People from Leipzig]] [[Category:Alumni of University College London]] [[Category:Academics of University College London]] [[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Jewish refugees]] [[Category:German refugees]] [[ca:Bernard Katz]] [[de:Bernard Katz]] [[es:Bernard Katz]] [[fr:Bernard Katz]] [[hr:Bernard Katz]] [[id:Bernard Katz]] [[it:Bernard Katz]] [[he:ברנרד כץ]] [[sw:Bernard Katz]] [[lt:Bernard Katz]] [[nl:Bernard Katz]] [[ja:ベルンハルト・カッツ]] [[pl:Bernard Katz]] [[pt:Bernard Katz]] [[ru:Кац, Бернард]] [[fi:Bernard Katz]] [[sv:Bernard Katz]] [[zh:伯纳德·卡茨]]