Julius Axelrod’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1970

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am overjoyed in receiving this great honor. It is a special privilege for me to share this distinction with Professor Ulf von Euler and Sir Bernard Katz.

This award comes at a time when our young and many of our most influential people believe that basic research is irrelevant or is put to evil uses. The selection of chemical neurotransmission for a Nobel Prize this year, makes our work highly visible to the general public and gives us an opportunity to show how misinformed and mistaken they are. I think we can easily demonstrate that although our work is of a fundamental nature, it also gives us insight in explaining such illnesses as mental depression, Parkinson’s disease, hypertension and drug abuse. It can also lead the way to the treatment of these terrible afflictions.

I thank the Nobel Prize Committee for bringing the adrenergic and cholinergic nervous system together again. They have been apart for too long. I also want to offer my gratitude for the hospitality you have shown to my family and myself. Thank you.