Euler, Ulf (Svante) von (1905–1983)

Swedish physiologist who with German-born English physiologist Bernard Katz and US physiologist Julius Axelrod was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1970 for research into the mechanisms governing nerve impulses. Euler received his share of the prize for his discovery of the neurotransmitter, noradrenaline.

The understanding of the mechanisms that control transmission between nerve cells (synapses) and nerve terminals (effector organs) is of fundamental importance to medical science. Euler discovered that the neurotransmitter or impulse carrier that serves the sympathetic nervous system was noradrenaline. He also showed how noradrenaline was stored in small nerve granules within the nerve fibres themselves. Euler's discovery has helped to advance the development of remedies for the treatment of mental and nervous disorders.

Euler was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Euler was the son of Hans von Euler-Cheplin, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1929. He received his PhD from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, in 1930, where he became an assistant professor of pharmacology the same year. Euler was appointed a full professor of physiology at the institute in 1939, which he retained until 1971. He served as a member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine from 1953 until 1965 and became secretary of the committee from 1961 until 1965. Euler was chairman of the board of the Nobel Foundation from 1966 until 1975.