Photo: NIH / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Richard Axel represents science at its most quietly heroic. His 2004 Nobel Prize for unraveling how we smell turned an everyday mystery, the comfort of morning coffee, into mapped neural machinery. What I respect just as much is that he shared the honor with Linda Buck, a former member of his own lab, which speaks to a generosity in mentoring the next generation. Decades of patient work from Stuyvesant High to Columbia produced knowledge that genuinely belongs to all of humanity. To me, that kind of unglamorous, foundational research deserves far more public reverence than it gets.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Richard Axel
- Name (Japanese)
- リチャード・アクセル
- Reading
- りちゃーど・あくせる
- Born
- July 2, 1946 (age 79)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Dog
- Origin
- Brooklyn, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- biochemist / neurologist / university teacher / physician
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Stuyvesant High School
- University
- Columbia University
Awards & achievements
- 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 2003 Canada Gairdner International Award
- 1996 Rosenstiel Award
- 1982 Alan T. Waterman Award
- 1998 Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research
- 2002 Perl-UNC Prize
- 1989 Richard Lounsbery Award
- 2018 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Richard Axel born?
Born July 2, 1946 (age 79).
Where is Richard Axel from?
Richard Axel is from Brooklyn, New York, United States.
What does Richard Axel do?
Richard Axel works as biochemist, neurologist, university teacher, physician.
Biochemist — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-24
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.