Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr. was a pioneering American pharmacologist and biochemist born in Burlingame, Kansas, on November 19, 1915. After earning his B.S. from Washburn College in 1937, he pursued medical studies at Washington University School of Medicine, where he began his research career in pharmacology under Nobel laureate Carl Ferdinand Cori. Sutherland served as a U.S. Army physician during World War II, working as a battalion surgeon under General George S. Patton, before returning to academic research. He held professorial positions at Case Western Reserve University from 1953 to 1963, where he conducted his landmark research on hormone mechanisms, and subsequently joined Vanderbilt University as Professor of Physiology until his death in 1974. His rigorous experimental approach and innovative thinking established him as a leading figure in cellular biochemistry during the mid-20th century.
Sutherland's most significant contribution was the discovery of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cyclic AMP) in 1956, which revolutionized the understanding of hormone action at the cellular level. Working with Theodore Rall, he demonstrated that hormones like epinephrine and glucagon operate through a second messenger system, where the hormone itself triggers the production of cyclic AMP inside cells, which then activates various metabolic processes. This groundbreaking concept explained how minute concentrations of hormones could produce significant cellular responses and fundamentally changed the field of endocrinology. His work elucidated the precise mechanisms by which hormones regulate glycogen breakdown and other critical metabolic pathways, providing the foundation for decades of subsequent research in cellular signaling. The discovery of cyclic AMP as a universal second messenger has had profound implications for understanding numerous diseases and developing therapeutic interventions.
Sutherland's paradigm-shifting research earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1971, recognizing the transformative nature of his discoveries concerning hormone mechanisms. Despite initial skepticism and the challenges of working through strenuous trial and error, his findings became one of the most important conceptual advances in 20th-century biology, influencing fields from pharmacology to molecular medicine. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973 and received the National Medal of Science from President Richard Nixon, cementing his status as one of America's most distinguished scientists. Sutherland's conceptual framework of second messenger systems remains fundamental to modern biochemistry and continues to inform research on cellular communication, metabolic disorders, and drug development. His legacy endures through the countless researchers who build upon his seminal work, which continues to illuminate the intricate mechanisms of cellular signaling more than half a century after his key discovery.
