1911-

German-born British biophysicist and corecipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in medicine with Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod for their work identifying the activation, inactivation, and storage of neurotransmitters, chemicals that stimulate nerve and muscle cells. His research helped explain how the nervous system operates, because the storage, release, and inactivation of acetylcholine was determined to be identical to other neurotransmitters. Katz earned his M.D. degree in 1934 and his Ph.D. in physiology from the University of London in 1938.