(June 4, 1916-May 19, 2009)
Born in Charleston, South Carolina
Discovered that nitric oxide (NO) relaxes blood vessels, regulating blood pressure and flow
Discovery led to the invention of Viagra by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer
Co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Medicine (1998)

Most of the headlines on his obituaries described him as a 'Viagra developer' rather than 'Nobel laureate.'
Pfizer minimized his discovery as 'a small piece of information' in developing Viagra.
He is indirectly responsible for a hefty chunk of spam cluttering your email inbox.

Thanks to his research, NO is being studied as a potential treatment for heart disease and pulmonary hypertension.
Valentin Fuster, president of the American Heart Association, said 'The discovery of nitric oxide and its function is one of the most important in the history of cardiovascular medicine.'
He was teaching and conducting research into his 80s.

Credit: C. Fishel

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• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 20]
• I Attended Northwestern
• I Attended University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
• I Died in 2009 (Ranked: 92)
• I Earned a Doctorate
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