View source for Bengt I. Samuelsson

{{Short description|Swedish biochemist (1934–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Bengt Samuelsson
| birth_name        = Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson
| image             = Bengt Samuelsson.png
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=y|1934|05|21}}
| birth_place       = [[Halmstad]], Sweden
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=y|2024|07|05|1934|05|21}} 
| death_place       = [[Mölle]], Sweden <ref>{{Cite web |date=16 July 2024 |title=Bengt Samuelsson, Biochemist and Nobel Laureate, Is Dead at 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/science/bengt-samuelsson-dead.html |access-date=16 July 2024 |website=www.nytimes.com |language=en}}</ref>
| residence         = 
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = [[Biochemistry]]
| work_institutions = 
| alma_mater        = [[Lund University]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Prostaglandin]]s
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| prizes            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]] (1975)
* [[Rosenstiel Award]] (1980)
* [[Heinrich Wieland Prize]] (1981)
* [[Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine]] (1982)
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society|ForMemRS]] (1990)<ref name=formemrs>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151108214029/https://royalsociety.org/people/bengt-samuelsson-12224/|archivedate=8 November 2015|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/bengt-samuelsson-12224/|title=Professor Bengt Samuelsson ForMemRS|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|location=London}}</ref>}}
| religion          = 
}}

'''Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson''' (21 May 1934 – 5 July 2024) was a Swedish [[biochemist]]. He shared with [[Sune K. Bergström]] and [[John R. Vane]] the 1982 [[Nobel Prize]] for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning [[prostaglandin]]s and related substances.<ref>{{Citation
|pmid = 10584758
|last=Raju
|first=T N
|publication-date= 27 November 1999
|year=1999
|title=The Nobel chronicles. 1982: Sune Karl Bergström (b 1916); Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson (b 1934); John Robert Vane (b 1927)
|volume=354
|issue=9193
|periodical=[[The Lancet|Lancet]]
|pages=1914
|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(05)76884-7 
|s2cid=54236400
}}</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20091026062757/http://www.geocities.com/med_1980kkk/samuelsson-autobio.html Swedish Medical Association's Jubilee Award]</ref>

==Education and early life==
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2024}}
Samuelsson was born in [[Halmstad]] in southwest Sweden, studied at [[Lund University]], and was a professor in medical and physiological chemistry at [[Karolinska Institute]] in Stockholm in 1973. He was president of [[Karolinska Institute]] from 1982 to 1995 and chairman of the [[Nobel Foundation]] from 1993 to 2005. 

==Research and career==
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2024}}
Discussing the role of [[prostaglandin]]s in the body, Samuelsson explained, "It's a control system for the cells that participates in many biological functions. There are endless possibilities of manipulating this system in drug development."

His research interests were originally in [[cholesterol]] metabolism with importance to reaction mechanisms. Following the structural work on prostaglandins along with Sune Bergström he was interested mainly in the transformation products of [[arachidonic acid]]. This has led to the identification of [[endoperoxide]]s, [[thromboxane]]s and the [[leukotriene]]s, and his group has chiefly been involved in studying the [[chemistry]], [[biochemistry]] and [[biology]] of these compounds and their function in biological control systems. This research has implications in numerous clinical areas, especially in [[thrombosis]], [[inflammation]], and [[allergy]].

This field has grown enormously since those days. Between 1981 and 1995, about 3,000 papers per year were published that specifically used the expression "prostaglandins," or related terms such as "prostacyclins," "leukotrienes," and "thromboxanes," in their labels and titles.

Samuelsson had served as a director on the boards of [[Pharmacia]] AB, [[NicOx]] SA, and [[Bayer Schering Pharma AG|Schering]] AG, and was an advisor to the venture capital fund [[HealthCap]].

==Death==
Samuelsson died on 5 July 2024, at the age of 90.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dn.se/familj/dodsannonser/#/CaseInline/914436 | title=Dödsannonser - DN.se }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=7 July 2024 |title=Svenske Nobelpristagaren Bengt Samuelsson död |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/a/4Bo81e |access-date=8 July 2024 |website=www.aftonbladet.se |language=sv}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1982 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1982/samuelsson/facts/ |access-date=8 July 2024 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US |archive-date=5 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240405024650/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1982/samuelsson/facts/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
In 1975, Samuelsson was awarded the [[Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]] from [[Columbia University]] together with [[Sune K. Bergström]]. He was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1990|Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1990]].<ref name=formemrs/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture ''From Studies of Biochemical Mechanisms to Novel Biological Mediators: Prostaglandin Endoperoxides, Thromboxanes and Leukotrienes''

{{s-start}}
{{s-npo}}
{{succession box |
 title=[[Nobel Foundation|Chairman of the Nobel Foundation]] |
 before=[[Lars Gyllensten]] | after=[[Marcus Storch]] |
 years=1993–2005}}
{{s-end}}

{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1982 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Swedish Nobel Laureates}}
{{FRS 1990}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelsson, Bengt I.}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Swedish biochemists]]
[[Category:Stockholm University alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Karolinska Institute]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:Swedish Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:People from Halmstad]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]]
[[Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]