Biochemist Dr. Bengt Samuelsson, Nobel Prize Winner, Dies at 90

Dr. Bengt Samuelsson, a pioneering biochemist, passed away on July 5 at the age of 90 in his home in Molle, Sweden. His daughter, Astrid Samuelsson Norhammar, confirmed that he succumbed to heart disease.

During the 1960s at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Dr. Samuelsson made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of biochemistry. He unveiled multiple lipid mediators, including prostaglandins and various related subtypes, which have since been found to play critical roles in the body’s organs and tissues.

Impact on Medicine

Dr. Samuelsson's research led to the development of drugs that are used to treat a wide range of conditions, including inflammation, glaucoma, allergies, blood clotting, asthma, kidney stones, and gallstones. The hormone-like molecules he defined have been pivotal in understanding and treating these diverse medical issues.

His work built upon earlier research in the 1930s at the Karolinska Institute, where biologically active lipid molecules were first discovered in semen by Dr. Ulf von Euler. These molecules, named prostaglandins, were initially believed to be unique to the prostate gland, leading to Dr. Euler being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1970 for his work.