Robert F. Furchgott

Robert Francis Furchgott ( June 4, 1916 in Charleston, South Carolina, † May 19, 2009 in Seattle, Washington) was an American biochemist.

After attending high school in Orangeburg, he studied at the University of South Carolina, but moved out after one year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studied in the field of physical chemistry with cellulose. After that, he conducted research for his doctoral thesis at Northwestern University to erythrocytes. 1940 moved Furchgott to Cornell University, where he spent nine years in the group of Ephraim Schorr explored the bloodstream. There, he worked as a university professor at Washington University in St. Louis and the State University of New York.

Since 1978, he conducted research on so-called endothelium - derived relaxing factor, which ultimately led to the discovery of the important role of nitric oxide as a messenger in the cardiovascular system. For this work, Furchgott in 1991 received a Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Albert Lasker Award for 1996 Basic Medical Research in 1998 with Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

Furch Gotts discovery that gas can expand the vessels that had participated in the development of impotence remedy Viagra.