Remembering Sir Bernard Katz (1911--2003).

True science recognizes no boundaries and it is best exemplified by the life of Sir Bernard Katz, an ideal role model for a generation of physiologists and pharmacologists and who was instrumental in the " Quantum " jump in the knowledge of synaptic physiology. Germany on 26th March 1911. As a child till 6 years, Bernard Katz was a citizen of Russia but became stateless because of the Russian Revolution and later, ironically his statelessness made it easy for him to escape from Nazi oppression and leave Germany inspite of the fact that he was a Jew and Hitler was at the helm when Bernard Katz left Germany. Katz's early schooling was at Konig Albert Gymnasium in Leipzig and the atmosphere was 'completely unorthodox and liberal' as he himself has put it and 'he chose to learn Latin and Greek rather than more mathematical options as it gave him more time to play chess in the cafes of Leipzig'. Despite this, and inspite of having had his share of anti-Semitic experiences, he did well at school and went on to study Medicine at the University of Leipzig in 1929. After finishing his pre-clinical examination in 1931, he combined his undergraduate work with part-time physiological research under the guidance of Martin Gildemeister. His first work on muscle stretch and impedance resulted in two research papers and also in getting him Siegfried Garten prize and helped him secure M.D. degree. After completing his medical degree in 1934, he continued to work in Leipzig hospital by which time he had read about A V. Hill and had realized that his research work had similarities with that of A. V. Hill and decided to leave Germany and work under him at the University College of London (UCL). At the beginning of February 1935, Katz left Germany and reached the doors of Department of Physiology, UCL, in a few days after travelling by train and ferry and ultimately reached his destination, Prof. A. V. Hill with just 4 pounds in his pocket along with a recommendation letter from Gildemeister.