Dr. NO: The Discovery That Led to A Nobel Prize and Viagra

What do the Nobel Prize, COVID-19, and the Father of Viagra have in common?Dr. Louis J. Ignarro

At the age of twelve, a mischievous Dr. Louis J. Ignarro built what he thought was a firecracker-but it turned out to be more like a small bomb. That was the beginning of his long, productive journey with the key component of nitroglycerin that eventually led him to receive his Nobel Prize in 1998-one of only 962 recipients to date. His groundbreaking discovery of the unique signaling molecule nitric oxide (NO) and its many life-critical biological actions in the human body, ranging from lowering blood pressure to simulating penile erection and sexual arousal, led to his earning both the Nobel Prize and the moniker "The Father of Viagra."

"The discovery of Nitric Oxide by Dr. Ignarro, and the role it plays in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, is as important as the discovery of penicillin and insulin," says David Heber, M.D., Ph.D., Director, UCLA Center for Human Nutrition.

This compelling and timely memoir chronicles Ignarro's life-from his humble early years as the son of poor Italian immigrants to his rise to internationally distinguished research scientist. In contrast to well-known troubled-scientist stories like Oppenheimer and A Beautiful Mind, Lou Ignarro's memoir is a joyful blend of the classic American dream, a life well-lived, and behind-the-scenes science stories rolled into one.

Dr. Ignarro opens up and shares intimate details about himself and his journey, and his amazing accomplishments and heartbreaking setbacks both in science and in life. But this isn't just a scientist's story, it's a quintessentially American story. Only in America could the child of uneducated Italian immigrants start out as a struggling student barely able to speak English and go on to win the Nobel Prize.

An international fundraising effort to make a movie version of Dr. NO is currently underway. It won't take readers long to understand how seamlessly Dr. Ignarro's story will translate to the big screen.