Albrecht Fleckenstein


Albrecht Fleckenstein was a German pharmacologist and physiologist best known for his discovery of calcium channel blockers.

Life and career

Albrecht Fleckenstein was born on 3 March 1917 in Aschaffenburg, Germany. He received his medical training in Würzburg and Vienna. In 1964, Fleckenstein reported about the inhibitory actions of prenylamine and verapamil on the physiological process of excitation–contraction coupling. This contributed to his discovery of calcium antagonists.

Awards

In 1986, Fleckenstein received the Ernst Jung Prize, awarded annually for excellence in biomedical sciences. In 1991, he also received the Albert Einstein World Award of Science.