Otto Loewi

Loewi, Otto 

Born June 3, 1873, in Frankfurt-am-Main; died Dec. 25, 1961, in New York. Austrian physiologist and pharmacologist; doctor of medicine (1896).

Loewi was professor at the University of Graz from 1909 to 1938. He became a professor at the medical school of New York University in 1940. Loewi is recognized as one of the founders of the chemical transfer theory of nervous excitation. He demonstrated that physiologically active substances called mediators, which are secreted by nerve endings, play a role in the regulation of cardiac activity. Loewi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1936 (jointly with H. Dale) for his work on the role of acetylcholine in the transfer of neural impulses.

REFERENCE

“Henry Dale (1875–), Otto Loewi (1873–).” In L. G. Stevenson, Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine and Physiology, 1901–1950. New York, 1953.