Sir Bernard Katz,
FRS (; 26 March 1911 – 20 April 2003) was a German-born
British physician and
biophysicist
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. Bi ...
, noted for his work on
nerve physiology
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...
. He shared the
Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1970 with
Julius Axelrod and
Ulf von Euler. He was made a
Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are ...
in 1969.
Life and career
Katz was born in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
, Germany, to a Jewish family originally from Russia, the son of Eugenie (Rabinowitz) and Max Katz, a fur merchant.
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
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...
. He graduated in 1934 and fled to Britain in February 1935.
Katz went to work at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
, initially under the tutelage of
Archibald Vivian Hill
Archibald Vivian Hill (26 September 1886 – 3 June 1977), known as A. V. Hill, was a British physiologist, one of the founders of the diverse disciplines of biophysics and operations research. He shared the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Me ...
. He finished his PhD in 1938 and won a
Carnegie Fellowship
The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...
to study with
John Carew Eccles at the Kanematsu Institute of
Sydney Medical School. During this time, both he and Eccles gave research lectures at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
. He obtained British nationality in 1941 and joined the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
in 1942. He spent the war in the Pacific as a
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...
officer and in 1946 was invited back to UCL as an assistant director by
Hill. For three years until 1949, the Katz family lived with
Hill and his wife
Margaret in the top flat of their house in
Highgate.
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 elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1952.
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
is
Public Orator of The
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
Research
His research uncovered fundamental properties of
synapses, 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
signalling molecule found in synapses linking
motor neurons to
muscles,
[The Release of Neural Transmitter Substances (The Sherrington Lectures X), Charles C Thomas Publisher, Springfield (Illinois) 1969, pp. 60] used to stimulate contraction. Katz won the Nobel for his discovery with
Paul 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 as
synaptic vesicles, released in a similar way to any other
vesicle during
exocytosis.
Katz's work had immediate influence on the study of
organophosphates and
organochlorines, the basis of new post-war study for
nerve agents and
pesticides, as he determined that the complex enzyme cycle was easily disrupted.
See also
*
Chemical synapse
*
Quantile neurotransmitter release
*
End-plate potential
*
List of refugees
This is a list of prominent people who fled their native country, went into exile and found refuge in another country. The list follows the current legal concept of refugee only loosely. It also includes children of people who have fled. The peopl ...
*
Neuromuscular junction
References
External links
Sir Bernard Katz Biography Nobel Foundation
* Sabbatini, R.M.E.
''Brain & Mind'', 2004.
Physiology Online, PhysiologyNews, Issue 52, Autumn 2003König-Albert-Gymnasium Leipzig*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, Bernard
1911 births
2003 deaths
Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine
British Nobel laureates
German Nobel laureates
British neuroscientists
German neuroscientists
Jewish neuroscientists
Jewish scientists
Physicians from Leipzig
Alumni of University College London
Academics of University College London
Recipients of the Copley Medal
Knights Bachelor
Fellows of the Royal Society
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom
Electrophysiologists
Neurophysiologists
The Journal of Physiology editors