John J(acob) Abel

Biochemist and physiologist, born near Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He studied at Johns Hopkins University (1883–4) and in Europe (1884–91), taught at the University of Michigan (1891–3), then returned to Johns Hopkins as professor of pharmacology (1893–1932). He founded several professional journals and made major advances in the fields of endocrinology, toxicology, and tetanus research. His experiments on dialysis of amino acids in blood through cellophane (1914) led to his proposal for construction of an artificial kidney. He is best known for first isolating and naming the adrenal hormone epinephrine (1897), and for his crystallization and analysis of insulin (1927).

John Jacob Abel (May 19, 1857 – May 26, 1938) was a significant American biochemist and pharmacologist.

Born near Cleveland, Ohio, he founded and chaired in 1891 the first department of pharmacology in the United States at the University of Michigan. In 1893, he went on to establish and chair the pharmacology department at Johns Hopkins University (one of the many schools at which he was educated).

He spent years unsuccessfully searching for the pituitary hormone, unaware that he was in fact looking for several hormones.

Abel also founded the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 1905 and the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 1909.