Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr.

American pharmacologist (1915–1974)

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Lived 1915–1974, aged 59United States

United States ScientistsScientist

Fame4.9
Momentum7.3
United States rank#168
Scientists rank#140
Wikipedia426

Wikipedia
49 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in United States
#168
Scientists
Era
1915–1974
Aged 59

Summary

Updated 2026-05-29

Sutherland cracked how hormones actually work at the cellular level, landing a 1971 Nobel Prize for discovering cyclic AMP as the middleman between epinephrine and its effects. The pharmacologist's second messenger insight became foundational to modern biochemistry.

Biography

About

Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr. was an American pharmacologist and biochemist born in Burlingame, Kansas. Sutherland won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1971 "for his discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the action of hormones", especially epinephrine, via second messengers, namely cyclic adenosine monophosphate, or cyclic AMP.

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