Robert F. Furchgott

American biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of nitric oxide as a new cellular signal—shared in 1998 with Louis Ignarro and Ferid Murad. He discovered nitric oxide as a transient cellular signal in mammalian systems.

The son of a department store owner, he graduated with a degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1937) and went on to earn a PhD in biochemistry at Northwestern University (1940), immediately joining a medical faculty thereafter.

Furchgott was faculty member of Cornell University Medical College from 1940 to 1949, of Washington University School of Medicine from 1949 to 1956, and State University of New York Downstate Medical Center from 1956 to 2009, as professor of pharmacology.

In 1978, Furchgott discovered a substance in endothelial cells that relaxes blood vessels, calling it endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF). By 1986, he had worked out EDRF's nature and mechanism of action, and determined that EDRF was in fact nitric oxide (NO), an important compound in many aspects of cardiovascular physiology. This research is important in explaining a wide variety of neuronal, cardiovascular, and general physiologic processes of central importance in human health and disease.

In addition to receiving the Nobel Prize, Furchgott's discovery, that NO gas causes blood vessels to dilate, provided a long sought-after explanation for the therapeutic effects of Nitroglycerin used to treat Angina pectoris and was later instrumental in the development of the erectile dysfunction treatment drug Viagra.

Furchgott was married to Lenore Mandelbaum (February 1915 – April 1983) from 1941 until she died aged 68. They had three daughters: Jane, Terry and Susan. His daughter, Susan, was a prolific artist in the San Francisco counter culture and a co-founder of the Kerista Commune (she was also known as "Even Eve" and "Eve Furchgott").