Twarog, Betty M.

Betty Mack Twarog (August 28, 1927 – February 6, 2013) was an American neurophysiologist who first discovered serotonin in the mammalian brain in 1952. It was "one of the most important scientific discoveries of the twentieth century, one that hanged the course of neuroscience and medicine and set off a revolution in the way we think of ourselves", wrote the psychologist Gary Greenberg in his book about depression. Twarog "laid the cornerstone of the antidepressant revolution" that began in 1978 with antidepressant SSRI medicines. Her research involved mollusks and other ocean animals, and focused on smooth muscle chemical basis of nerve–muscle interaction.