Bert Sakmann, along with physicist Erwin Neher, was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for inventing the patch clamp technique. The technique made it possible to realize a goal that had eluded scientists since the 1950s: to be able to examine individual ion channels--pore-forming proteins found in the outer membranes of virtually all cells that serve as conduits for electrical signals. Introduced in 1976, the patch clamp technique opened new paths in the study of membrane physiology. Since then, researchers throughout the world have adapted and refined patch clamping, contributing significantly to research on problems in medicine and neuroscience. The Nobel Committee credited Sakmann and Neher with having revolutionized modern biology.

Sakmann was born in Stuttgart, Germany, on June 12, 1942. His later education involved much time around the laboratory. From 1969 to 1970, he was a research assistant in the department of neurophysiology at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry...