Photo: Charles Parnot / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Brian Kobilka belongs to the rare breed of scientist whose work quietly shapes everyday life. His 2012 Nobel Prize, shared with Robert Lefkowitz, was for revealing how G protein-coupled receptors operate, and since a huge share of modern medicines act on exactly those receptors, his research underpins pharmacology in ways most of us never notice. I'm drawn to the arc here: a kid from small-town Little Falls, Minnesota, climbing from a regional university to a Stanford professorship and the top of his field. There is no glamour in spending decades chasing molecular structures, only obsession, and that is precisely the kind of greatness I most want to honor.
Overview
Brian Kent Kobilka (born May 30, 1955) is an American physiologist and a recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Lefkowitz for discoveries that reveal the workings of G protein-coupled receptors. He is currently a professor in the department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Brian Kobilka
- Name (Japanese)
- ブライアン・コビルカ
- Reading
- ぶらいあん・こびるか
- Born
- May 30, 1955 (age 71)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Goat
- Origin
- Little Falls, Minnesota, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- biochemist / physicist / university teacher / chemist / physiologist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- University of Minnesota Duluth
Awards & achievements
- 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 1994 John J. Abel Award
- 2015 Mendel Medal
- 2016 The Louis and Artur Lucian Award in Cardiovascular Diseases
- 2010 Julius Axelrod Award
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Biochemist — see all → · Physicist — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.