Sir Bernard Katz was a biophysicist who was born in Germany and is most known for his groundbreaking work on nerve biochemistry. He was one of the co-recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970, along with Julius Axelrod and Ulf von Euler. He was descended from a Russian Jewish family. He has endured a lot of discrimination due of his religion since he was a child. When he was twenty-two years old and couldn’t officially accept the Siegfried Garten prize because he was labeled as non-Aryan, he opted to migrate. He moved to University College London to work under Archibald Vivian Hill, who was recognized for saving over 900 academics from Nazi persecution, shortly after getting his medical degree from the University of Leipzig (UCL). He completed his PhD work in a short period there, but only after obtaining British citizenship did he acquire his degree. Following WWII, he returned to his alma university, UCL, to do nerve impulse research. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on that subject. More importantly, it had a significant impact on physiology and pharmacology. He also led the Department of Biophysics for a long time, and it became a center of excellence under his leadership.
Childhood and Adolescence
Bernard Katz was born in Leipzig, Germany, on March 26, 1911. Max Katz, his father, was a Russian-born Jewish trader who immigrated to the United States in 1904. Eugenie (Rabinowitz) was his Polish mother. Bernard was his parents’ only child, and he grew up in an unconventional environment.
The Bolsheviks seized control in Russia in 1917, and the Katz family lost their citizenship as a result. As a result, they became stateless.
Bernard, then nine years old, experienced discrimination for the first time when he was denied admittance to Schiller Real Gymnasium because of his religion in 1920.
He was accepted into König Albert Gymnasium in 1921. Bernard began studying Latin and Greek in order to have more time to play chess at the local café. Despite this, he received a decent grade in mathematics.
He began studying medicine at the University of Leipzig in 1929. Katz began scientific work under Martin Gildermeister shortly after passing his preclinical exams. In 1933, he was awarded the Siegfried Garten Prize.
Unfortunately, due to Nazi policy, the committee was forced to proclaim that no non-Aryan could receive the medal. He, on the other hand, received the reward money in secret.
After the incident, Katz understood that Germany was not a secure place for him. Nonetheless, he had to wait another year to complete his studies. In 1934, he finally obtained his diploma.
He arrived in England in February 1935, equipped with a letter of recommendation from Martin Gildermeister, a League of Nations stateless-persons pass, and four pounds. As a PhD student at the University College London, he joined the laboratory of Archibald Vivian Hill.
Despite his inability to communicate clearly in English, he quickly learned the language. More importantly, he had a fantastic writing style and an incredible ability to pick up on the main concerns of each topic he encountered.
Katz completed his doctoral dissertation in 1938, but did not earn his diploma until 1942. In 1938, he was awarded the Beit Memorial Research Fellowship, which allowed him to work at Hill’s laboratory until August 1939.
Career of Sir Bernard Katz
Bernard Katz was awarded the Carnegie Fellowship in 1939, and he went to the Kanematsu Institute of Sydney Medical School to work in the laboratory of Australian neurophysiologist John Carew Eccles. He was also invited to offer research talks at the University of Sydney during that time.
Katz became a naturalized British citizen and acquired his first legally valid passport in 1941, while working in Australia. After receiving his doctorate in 1942, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a radar officer in New Guinea.
Katz received an invitation from A.V. Hill to return to University College London after the Second World War ended in 1945. As a result, in 1946, he returned to England and accepted a position as Assistant Director of Research in Biophysics and Henry Head Research Fellow at UCL.
Katz gained distinction at UCL for his work on the technique of nerve impulse transmission from nerve fiber to muscle fiber. He was appointed Reader in Physiology at University College London in 1950.
Hill retired in 1952, and Katz took over as Professor of Biophysics, a position he held until 1978. During that time, he was recognized as the department’s head as well as an accomplished researcher.
Only three PhD students were directly supervised by him during his long career as a notable scientist: Paul Fatt, Bob Martin, and Donald Jenkinson. They all went on to become well-known scientists in their own right.
The Department of Biophysics at UCL became a center of excellence under his leadership. Researchers from all over the world came to collaborate with him and to learn from his expertise.
Major Projects of Sir Bernard Katz
Katz had spent most of his career focusing on nerve and muscle function. His ‘quantal theory,’ which helped to explain the fundamental physiological mechanism of transmitter release, is, however, what he is best renowned for.
Katz and Paul Fatt discovered that neurotransmitter (acetylcholine) is released in multi-molecular packets called as ‘quanta’ while working with frogs in the 1950s. He discovered that they correspond to synaptic vesicles in motor nerve terminals after more research.
He advanced his idea and demonstrated that exocytosis is activated by influx of Ca2+, which is generated by depolarization, in collaboration with Ricardo Miledi in the late 1960s. They then examined the voltage noise caused by acetylcholine in muscle and derived single ion channel characteristics. The breakthrough paved the way for molecular neuroscience to emerge.
In addition to his scholarly accomplishments, Katz wrote several books that were praised for both their content and his straightforward, unpretentious writing style. ‘Electric Excitation of Nerve’ (1939), ‘Nerve, Muscle, and Synapse’ (1966), and ‘The Release of Neural Transmitter Substances’ are the three works mentioned (1969).
Achievements & Awards
Bernard Katz won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 for his discovery of “humoral transmittors in nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release, and inactivation.” He was awarded the prize alongside Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod, both of whom worked on the same problem.
Katz had previously received the Feldberg Foundation Award in 1965, the Royal College of Physicians’ Baly Medal in 1966, and the Royal Society’s Copley Medal in 1967. In 1969, he was knighted.
Personal History and Legacy
Katz married Marguerite Penly in 1945, just after World War II ended. She was born and raised in Cremorne, New South Wales. David and Jonathon were their two children. Jonathon became a Public Orator at the University of Oxford, while David followed in his father’s footsteps and became a physicist.
Katz remained an emeritus professor at University College, London, after his retirement in 1978.
Katz has enjoyed playing chess since he was a toddler. Until the very end, he played the game very effectively.
He died on April 20, 2003, in London, at the age of 92. Long after his retirement, he remained involved in science. Katz’s wife died in 1999, and he died on April 20, 2003, at the age of 92.
Estimated Net Worth
The estimated net worth of Sir Bernard Katz is unknown.