Hormones
Year of Discovery: 1902
What Is It? Chemical messengers that trigger action in various organs within
the body.
Who Discovered It? William Bayliss and Ernst Starling
Why Is This One of the 100 Greatest?
At the dawn of the twentieth century, scientists thought that all control signals in the
human body were sent electrically along nerve fibers. Then Bayliss and Starling discovery
that chemical messengers (called hormones) as well as electric signals trigger body organs
to function. This startling discovery started a whole new field of medical science: endocrinology. It revolutionized physiology and has been called one of the greatest discoveries of
all time related to the human body.
Once discovered and commercially produced, these hormones were hailed as miracle
drugs when made available in the marketplace. Adrenalin (the first hormone to be discovered) was the first “blockbuster” drug of the twentieth century. Other hormones followed
close behind.
How Was It Discovered?
Bayliss and Starling get credit for discovering hormones. However, we must give
some credit to those who, several years before, actually discovered the first hormone—even
though they did not realize the true significance of their discovery.
During a long series of animal experiments in 1894, British physiologist Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer showed that fluid extracted from the adrenal gland would raise blood
pressure if injected into an animal’s blood stream. He thought it interesting, but did not see
any practical value to his find. In 1898 American pharmacologist John Abel recognized the
medical value of this substance and studied its origin and chemistry. He isolated the key
chemical in this fluid and named it epinephrine (from the Greek words meaning “above the
kidney,” since that’s where the adrenal gland is housed).
Two years later, Japanese entrepreneur and chemist Jokichi Takamine set up a lab in
New York to create a synthetic version of epinephrine in pure crystalline form that could be
commercially produced. In 1901 he succeeded, and called it adrenaline because the natural
chemical came from the adrenal gland. While Takamine realized the commercial value of
his creation (and quickly patented the name and manufacturing process), he did not take
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