Sir Bernard Katz: 26 March 1911 - 20 April 2003

Sir Bernard Katz established the cellular basis of synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction, the contact point between nerve and muscle. With his death, we lost one of the most distinguished biophysicists of our time. He laid the foundations for our understanding of almost every aspect of synaptic transmission. Bernard Katz revealed the existence of key molecules and formally described their interaction. With the benefit of his almost magical intuition, he formulated hypotheses that are now recognized as facts. During his career he pioneered research in three areas. He and Alan Hodgkin elucidated the ionic basis of the action potential overshoot, as formulated in the sodium hypothesis; he unravelled the biophysical mechanisms that generate the endplate potential; and he clarified mechanisms of transmitter release, as detailed in the quantal hypothesis and the vesicle hypothesis. In particular his work on the neuromuscular junction influenced and led several generations of neurophysiologists, and it continues to do so even though research focus has shifted to synapses in the central nervous system. Bernard Katz (or BK, as he was known to colleagues and students) trained several generations of young investigators who have been inspired by his hypotheses, by his impeccable thoroughness as an investigator, and by the straightforward, unpretentious style of his presentations - though some have been dismayed by his occasional unapproachability or his unforgiving nature when confronted with others' mistakes! Perhaps his most valuable and enduring legacy to collaborators and students is that, when data are difficult to interpret and we see only a faint glimmer of light at the end of a long tunnel, we ask ourselves, 'What would BK do now?'