Julius Axelrod

Julius Axelrod married Sally Taub in 1938. They had two children. His wife died in 1992 after 53 years of marriage.

He injured his left eye when an ammonia bottle in the lab exploded. He wore an eyepatch for the rest of his life.

He died on December 29, 2004, in Maryland, USA, at the age of 92.

Julius Axelrod was born in New York City on May 30, 1912. His parents, Molly and Isadore Axelrod, were Jewish immigrants from Poland. His father was a basket weaver.

Julius was interested in science from a young age and received a bachelor's degree in biology from the College of the City of New York in 1933. He aspired to be a physician but was rejected by every medical school he applied to.

After working for a short while as a laboratory technician at New York University, he got a job with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 1935. One of his responsibilities was to test vitamin supplements added to food. He also attended night school during this time and received his master's degree in sciences from New York University in 1941.

In 1946, Julius Axelrod was appointed as a Research Associate at the Third New York University Research Division, Goldwater Memorial Hospital. There he worked under the prominent biochemist Bernard Brodie and the two men researched on how analgesics (pain-killers) work.

At that time it was discovered that users of non-aspirin analgesics were developing a blood condition known as methemoglobinemia. Axelrod and Brodie found out that acetanilide, the main ingredient of these pain-killers, was the cause of the issue.

Their research also led to the discovery that the chemical acetaminophen had pain relieving properties and recommended its use. Marketed as Paracetamol, Tylenol, and Panadol, acetaminophen became a very popular painkiller worldwide.

In 1949, Axelrod was made the Associate Chemist in the Section on Chemical Pharmacology, National Heart Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. He was promoted to Senior Chemist in 1953. Here he researched on the sympathetic nervous system and its main neurotransmitters, epinephrine and norepinephrine.

He was appointed Chief of the Section on Pharmacology in the Laboratory of Clinical Science at the National Institute of Mental Health in 1955. He remained at the institute until his retirement in 1984.

Julius Axelrod was known for his research on Catecholamine metabolism. He also discovered and characterized the enzyme catechol-O-methyl transferase, which is involved in the breakdown of catecholamines.