Sir Bernard Katz | |
|---|---|
 Painting after a portrait byNick Sinclair | |
| Born | (1911-03-26)26 March 1911 |
| Died | 20 April 2003(2003-04-20) (aged 92) London, UK |
| Alma mater | University of Leipzig |
| Known for | Goldman–Hodgkin–Katz flux equation Goldman–Hodgkin–Katz voltage equation Quantal neurotransmitter release |
| Spouse | Marguerite ("Rita") Penly Katz (d. 1999) |
| Children | 2 sons |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neurophysiology Biophysics |
| Institutions | University College London University of Sydney Sydney Hospital |
| Academic advisors | Archibald Vivian Hill |
Sir Bernard Katz,FRS[1] (German pronunciation:[ˈbɛʁnaʁtkat͡s]ⓘ; 26 March 1911 – 20 April 2003)[2] was a German-bornBritish[3] physician andbiophysicist, noted for his work onnervephysiology; specifically, for his work onsynaptic transmission at thenerve-muscle junction. He shared theNobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1970 withJulius Axelrod andUlf von Euler. He was made aKnight Bachelor in 1969.
Katz was born inLeipzig, Germany, to aJewish family originally from Russia, the son of Eugenie (Rabinowitz) and Max Katz, a fur merchant.[4] He was educated at the Albert Gymnasium in that city from 1921 to 1929 and went on to study medicine at theUniversity of Leipzig. He graduated in 1934 and fled to Britain in February 1935.
Katz went to work atUniversity College London, initially under the tutelage ofArchibald Vivian Hill. He finished his PhD in 1938 and won aCarnegie Fellowship to study withJohn Carew Eccles at the Kanematsu Institute ofSydney Medical School.[5] During this time, both he and Eccles gave research lectures at theUniversity of Sydney.[6] He obtained British nationality in 1941and joined theRoyal Australian Air Force in 1942.[7] He spent the war in the Pacific as aradar officer and in 1946 was invited back to UCL as an assistant director byHill. For three years until 1949, the Katz family lived withHill and his wifeMargaret in the top flat of their house inHighgate.[8]
Back in England he also worked with the 1963 Nobel prize winnersAlan Hodgkin andAndrew Huxley. Katz was made a professor at UCL in 1952 and head of the Biophysics Department; he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1952.[1] He stayed as head of Biophysics until 1978 when he became emeritus professor.
Katz married Marguerite Penly in 1945. He died in London on 20 April 2003, at the age of 92. His son Jonathan isPublic Orator of theUniversity of Oxford.[4][9]
His research uncovered fundamental properties ofsynapses, 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 ofacetylcholine, asignalling molecule found in synapses linkingmotor neurons tomuscles, used to stimulate contraction.[10] Katz won the Nobel for his discovery withPaul Fatt that neurotransmitter release at synapses is "quantal", meaning 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. Scientists now understand that this circumstance arises because, prior to their release into the synaptic gap, transmitter molecules reside in like-sized subcellular packages known assynaptic vesicles, released in a similar way to any othervesicle duringexocytosis.
Katz's work had immediate influence on the study oforganophosphates andorganochlorines, the basis of new post-war study fornerve agents andpesticides, as he determined that the complex enzyme cycle was easily disrupted.
Katz's son Jonathan presented the personal archive of his father to University College London in 2003.[11] The collection includes biographical documents, correspondence, notes on lectures, publications, and research material.[11]
