John Graham Nicholls FRS (19 December 1929 – 13 July 2023) was a British and Swiss

physiologist 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 chemical a ...

Life

Nicholls was an

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

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 chemical ...

. He was educated at

Berkhamsted School Berkhamsted School is an independent day school in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. The present school was formed in 1997 by the amalgamation of the original Berkhamsted School, founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, ...

and

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He received his MD from

Charing Cross Hospital Charing Cross Hospital is an acute general teaching hospital located in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approximately five miles east, in central Lond ...

and a PhD from the Department of Biophysics 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 = ...

in 1955. He worked at University College London, and the universities of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, and

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

. In 1983 he became professor of

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

at the

Biozentrum University of Basel The Biozentrum of the University of Basel specializes in basic molecular and biomedical research and teaching. Research includes the areas of cell growth and development, infection biology, neurobiology, structural biology and biophysics, a ...

. After reaching emeritus status in 1998, he was professor of

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

at the

International School for Advanced Studies The International School for Advanced Studies (Italian: ''Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati''; SISSA) is an international, state-supported, post-graduate-education and research institute in Trieste, Italy. SISSA is active in the ...

. The

International Brain Research Organization The International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) is the global federation of neuroscience organizations that aims to promote and support neuroscience around the world through training, teaching, collaborative research, advocacy and outreach. M ...

named a fellowship in his honor and he was a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. Nicholls died on 13 July 2023, at the age of 94.

Work

Nicholls was best known for his research in the field of neurobiology. In

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

and mammalian nervous systems he studied

synaptic transmission Neurotransmission (Latin: ''transmissio'' "passage, crossing" from ''transmittere'' "send, let through") is the process by which signaling molecules called neurotransmitters are released by the axon terminal of a neuron (the presynaptic neuron), ...

as well as the problem of why

neurons A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. N ...

in the brain and

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

fail to regenerate after injury. For his studies he developed a new type of mammalian

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all par ...

(CNS) preparation which allowed the investigation of mechanisms involved in

neurite A neurite or neuronal process refers to any projection from the cell body of a neuron. This projection can be either an axon or a dendrite. The term is frequently used when speaking of immature or developing neurons, especially of cells in culture ...

outgrowth and CNS regeneration. In later years he started to study how the rhythm of respiration is generated by the nervous system. Additionally, he authored the book ''From Neuron to Brain'', which is in its fifth edition.

Awards & honors

* 1988 Fellow of the Royal Society * 2003 John Nicholls Fellowship * 2007 D.Sc. Honoris Causa,

University of Trieste The University of Trieste ( it, Università degli Studi di Trieste, or UniTS) is a public research university in Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. The university consists of 10 departments, boasts a wide and almos ...

* 2010 Society for Neuroscience Award for Education in Neuroscience * 2011 Endowed John G. Nicholls Lecture

Books

*Kuffler S., Nicholls JG. From neuron to brain. Sinauer Associates Inc.,U.S.; 1st edition (12 August 1976) *Kuffler S., Nicholls JG. From neuron to brain. Sinauer Associates Inc.,U.S.; 2nd edition (1 May 1984) *Nicholls JG., Martin R. From neuron to brain. Sinauer Associates Inc; 3rd edition (September 1992) *Nicholls JG., Martin R. From neuron to brain. Sinauer Associates; 4th edition (15 January 2001) *Nicholls JG., Martin R. From neuron to brain. Sinauer Associates is an imprint of Oxford University Press; 5 edition (7 November 2011)

References

External links

Prof. Dr. John Nicholls, Emeritus, Biozentrum University of Basel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, John Graham 1929 births 2023 deaths People educated at Berkhamsted School Alumni of King's College London Alumni of University College London Academics of the University of Oxford Harvard University faculty Yale University faculty Stanford University faculty Biozentrum University of Basel Academics of University College London Fellows of the Royal Society Members of Academia Europaea English biophysicists