Hans Kosterlitz

Kosterlitz, a pharmacologist, co-discovered the enkephalins in 1975 with John Hughes — the brain's own opioid-like peptides — explaining how morphine and the body's endogenous painkillers act on the same receptors. Born into a Jewish family in Berlin, he left Germany for Scotland in 1934 to escape Nazi persecution and spent his career at the University of Aberdeen, founding its Unit for Research on Addictive Drugs. His work opened modern research into pain, addiction and endorphins.