Famous American Physiologists

Jared Diamond is an American historian, geographer, author, and ornithologist. He is best known for his books, The Third Chimpanzee, Collapse, Upheaval, and The World Until Yesterday. His 1997 book Guns, Germs, and Steel earned him the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. In 1999, he was awarded the National Medal of Science. Jared Diamond is currently working as a professor at UCLA.

Jessica Meir is an American-Swedish physiologist, marine biologist, and NASA astronaut. She is best known for her studies of the physiology of bar-headed geese and the behavior and diving physiology of emperor penguins. In 2020, Jessica Meir was named in Time magazine's Most Influential People list.

Born in Budapest, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Albert Szent-Györgyi shot himself in the arm while serving in World War II, so that he could be sent back home, and then studied medicine. While he is remembered for first isolating vitamin C, unknown to many, he was also a skilled pianist.

David Julius is an American physiologist best known for winning the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2021. He won the award alongside Ardem Patapoutian for discovering the receptors for touch and temperature. David Julius is also the recipient of several other awards, such as the Shaw Prize,  Gairdner Foundation International Award, and Prince of Asturias Prize.

Walter Bradford Cannon was an American physiologist best remembered for his association with Harvard Medical School, where he served as chairman and professor of the Department of Physiology. Walter Bradford Cannon is credited with developing the theory of homeostasis and coining the term fight-or-flight response. 

Charles Best made history with his discovery of insulin, along with Sir Frederick Banting, thus paving the path for its use as a treatment for diabetes. He, however, failed to get the 1923 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, like Banting, as he didn’t receive his medical degree till 1925.

Brian Kobilka is an American physiologist best known for winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2012. He is also credited with co-founding a biotechnology company named ConfometRx. Brian Kobilka is currently working as a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Arthur Guyton was an American physiologist best remembered for writing Textbook of Medical Physiology, which is still being used in medical schools as the standard textbook on the subject. Arthur Guyton's well known work is the best-selling medical physiology textbook in the world. It has also been translated into many languages.

E. Morton Jellinek was an American biostatistician, alcoholism researcher, and physiologist. He is best remembered for his association with the World Health Organization, where he worked as a consultant on alcoholism. E. Morton Jellinek was also associated with several prestigious institutions, such as Stanford University and Yale University.

Nathaniel Kleitman was an American sleep researcher and physiologist. Referred to as the father of modern sleep research, Kleitman is best remembered for writing his 1939 book Sleep and Wakefulness. Nathaniel Kleitman is also remembered for his association with the University of Chicago, where he served as Professor Emeritus in Physiology.

Canadian-American surgeon and urologist Charles Brenton Huggins is remembered for his pathbreaking research on how some hormones are related to cancer, which eventually won him the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. His studies paved the way for the cure of cancer, specifically prostate cancer and breast cancer.

A Harvard alumnus, Lawrence Joseph Henderson was associated with the Harvard Medical School for almost four decades. His chief contribution as a biochemist was his proposal of the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation, which calculates the acid–base equilibria of substances. He also penned the iconic work The Fitness of the Environment.

George H. Hitchings was an American medical doctor best remembered for winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988 along with Gertrude Elion and Sir James Black. While the group won the award for their discoveries of prominent principles for drug treatment, George H. Hitchings won it explicitly for his work on chemotherapy.

Arthur Galston discovered use of TIBA in speeding-up flowering of soybeans and its defoliant-effect if used in higher-concentration. This led to development of the toxic-defoliant Agent Orange and its use by the UK and the US as part of herbicidal-warfare-program during Vietnam War. Galston’s ethical objections to use of Agent Orange eventually led American President Nixon to end its use.

German-born American biologist Jacques Loeb is remembered for his pathbreaking research on artificial parthenogenesis. He headed his own department at Rockefeller University and also taught at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley. Though nominated for the Nobel Prize multiple times, he never won the prize.

Haldan Keffer Hartline was an American physiologist best remembered for winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967 for his work in examining the neurophysiological mechanisms of vision. Haldan Keffer Hartline won the award alongside Ragnar Arthur Granit and George Wald.

André Frédéric Cournand was a French-American physiologist and physician. He is best remembered for winning the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing cardiac catheterization. André Frédéric Cournand received the prize along with Dickinson W. Richards and Werner Forssmann in 1956.

Dickinson W. Richards was an American physiologist and physician. He is best remembered for winning the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the invention of cardiac catheterization. Over the course of his illustrious career, Dickinson W. Richards was also honored with several other prestigious awards, such as the John Phillips Memorial Award and the Trudeau Medal. 

Austrian-American neurophysiologist and psychiatrist Manfred Sakel is remembered for his pioneering use of the insulin shock therapy to treat patients of schizophrenia. Initially a researcher in Vienna, he fled to the US in the wake of the Nazi invasion. His brand of therapy was later replaced by electroconvulsive therapy.

Dennis Robert Hoagland was an American plant scientist and chemist. He is best remembered for his work in the fields of agricultural chemistry, plant nutrition, and physiology. From 1927 until his demise in 1949, Hoagland worked at the University of California, Berkeley as a Professor of Plant Nutrition. He is also known for developing Hoagland solution, an artificial nutrient solution.

British-American plant physiologist Kenneth V. Thimann is best remembered for isolating and identifying the plant hormone auxin. Associated with Harvard University for most of his initial career, he later joined the University of California. His best-known works include Phytohormones on plant hormones and The Life of Bacteria on microbiology.