coldstart
05-24-2009, 04:09 AM
Robert F. Furchgott | Scientist, 92
Robert F. Furchgott, 92, a scientist who won a share of a Nobel Prize and whose work helped lead to the development of Viagra, died Tuesday in Seattle. Dr. Furchgott worked with the gas nitric oxide, which led to new research in cardiovascular functions. Nitric oxide had been known as a pollutant that contributed to smog and acid rain, but research by Dr. Furchgott and others found that it was an important signal in the cardiovascular system, mediating blood pressure and blood flow. The scientists were praised when they were awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1998 for providing the first proof that a gas can perform important biochemical functions in the body.
-AP
Robert F. Furchgott, 92, a scientist who won a share of a Nobel Prize and whose work helped lead to the development of Viagra, died Tuesday in Seattle. Dr. Furchgott worked with the gas nitric oxide, which led to new research in cardiovascular functions. Nitric oxide had been known as a pollutant that contributed to smog and acid rain, but research by Dr. Furchgott and others found that it was an important signal in the cardiovascular system, mediating blood pressure and blood flow. The scientists were praised when they were awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1998 for providing the first proof that a gas can perform important biochemical functions in the body.
-AP