Erwin Neher Explained

Erwin Neher (pronounced as /de/; ;^[4] born 20 March 1944) is a German biophysicist, specializing in the field of cell physiology. For significant contribution in the field, in 1991 he was awarded, along with Bert Sakmann, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells".^{[5] [6] [7]}

Early life and education

Neher was born in Landsberg am Lech, Upper Bavaria, the son of Elisabeth (née Pfeiffer), a teacher, and Franz Xaver Neher, an executive at a dairy company.^[8] He studied physics at the Technical University of Munich from 1963 to 1966.

In 1966, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the US. He spent a year at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and earned a master's degree in biophysics. While at the laboratory of the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry he met fellow scientist Eva-Maria Neher (born Ruhr), whom he married in 1978 and subsequently the couple had five children – Richard, Benjamin, Carola, Sigmund and Margret.

In 2003 Neher was one of 22 Nobel Laureates who signed the Humanist Manifesto.^[9]

Career

In 1986, he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University together with Bert Sakmann. In 1987, he received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, which is the highest honour awarded in German research. Along with Bert Sakmann, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1991 for "their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells".^[10] Neher and Sakmann were the first to record the currents of single ion channels on a live cell (they were first recorded using the lipid bilayer method) through their development of the patch-clamp technique,.^{[11] [12] [13] [14]} The methodology has been further developed with the strong encouragement of Charles F. Stevens in his laboratory at Yale University.

Since 1983, he became a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and led the Department for Membrane Biophysics. He turned into an emeritus director of the Institute since 2011. He is also a Professor Emeritus at the University of Göttingen and used to be co-chair of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen.

Honors and awards

• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1991, jointly with Bert Sakmann)^[15]
• Fellow of the Royal Society (1994)
• Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience (1991)^[16]
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (1987)^[17]
• Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1986)^[18]

Neher holds honorary degrees from:^[15]

• University of Alicante, Spain, 1993
• University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, 1993
• Technical University of Munich, FRG, 1994
• University of Madrid, Spain, 1994
• Huazhong University of Sciences & Technology, Wuhan, PR China, 1994
• University of Bahía Blanca, Argentina, 1995
• University of Rome, Italy, 1996
• Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, 1999
• University of Pavia, 2000
• Oxford University, 2025^[19]

Neher was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1994.^[20]

Further reading

• Book: Schoenfeld, Robert L . Exploring the Nervous System: With Electronic Tools, an Institutional Base, a Network of Scientists. January 2006. Universal-Publishers. 978-1-58112-461-3.

Notes and References

1. Elektronische Messtechnik in der Physiologie. Berlin, New York, Springer-Verlag, 1974.
2. Single-channel recording / edited by Bert Sakmann and Erwin Neher. New York: Plenum Press, c1983.
3. Single-Channel Recording / edited by Bert Sakmann and Erwin Neher. 2nd ed. New York: Plenum Press, c1995.
4. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/neher "Neher"
5. Web site: Nobel autobiography of Neher.
6. Web site: Neurotree - Erwin Neher Family Tree. neurotree.org.
7. Web site: Erwin Neher - Science Video Interview. Chris. Dean. Vega Science Trust.
8. Web site: Erwin Neher – Biographical, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1991 . nobelprize.org . Nobel Media AB. 15 December 2019.
9. Web site: Notable Signers . American Humanist Association . Humanism and Its Aspirations . 4 October 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121005105825/http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III/Notable_Signers . 5 October 2012 .
10. Web site: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1991. Nobelprize.org. 16 May 2011.
11. Neher E, Sakmann B . The patch clamp technique . Scientific American . 266 . 3 . 44–51 . March 1992 . 1374932 . 10.1038/scientificamerican0392-44. 1992SciAm.266c..44N .
12. Book: Neher E . Correction for liquid junction potentials in patch clamp experiments . 207 . 123–31 . 1992 . 1528115 . 10.1016/0076-6879(92)07008-C . Methods in Enzymology . 978-0-12-182108-1. [6] Correction for liquid junction potentials in patch clamp experiments .
13. Neher E . The use of the patch clamp technique to study second messenger-mediated cellular events . Neuroscience . 26 . 3 . 727–34 . September 1988 . 2462183 . 10.1016/0306-4522(88)90094-2. 45756434 .
14. Neher E, Sakmann B, Steinbach JH . The extracellular patch clamp: a method for resolving currents through individual open channels in biological membranes . Pflügers Archiv . 375 . 2 . 219–28 . July 1978 . 567789 . 10.1007/BF00584247. 8035857 .
15. Web site: Erwin Neher Biographical . www.nobelprize.org . 10 March 2021.
16. Web site: Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience . 18 July 2025 . www.sfn.org . en.
17. Web site: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft . Liste der mit dem Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Preis Ausgezeichneten . 18 July 2025 . www.dfg.de.
18. Web site: 11 November 2022 . 1990 - 1981 Awardees . 18 July 2025 . Columbia University Irving Medical Center . en.
19. Web site: 25 June 2025 . Honorary degrees awarded at Encaenia 2025 University of Oxford . 3 July 2025 . www.ox.ac.uk . en.
20. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20151011204358/https://royalsociety.org/people/erwin-neher-11998/. 11 October 2015. Professor Erwin Neher ForMemRS. Royal Society. London.