James Black

James Whyte Black was born on 14 June 1924 in Scotland and trained as a physician before turning to pharmacology. He established a Veterinary Physiology department at the University of Glasgow, where his curiosity about adrenaline's effects on the heart set the course for everything that followed. In 1958 he joined ICI Pharmaceuticals and developed propranolol, the first beta blocker, a drug that treats heart disease by blocking adrenaline receptors. Later he created cimetidine, an H2 receptor antagonist that revolutionized the treatment of stomach ulcers by blocking acid secretion. The approach - rational drug design, targeting specific molecular receptors rather than guessing - earned him the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1988, shared with Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings. He died on 22 March 2010.