American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate

Joseph L. Goldstein

Joseph Leonard Goldstein ForMemRS is an American biochemist. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1985, along with fellow University of Texas Southwestern researcher, Michael Brown, for their studies regarding cholesterol. They discovered that human cells have low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors that remove cholesterol from the blood and that when LDL receptors are not present in sufficient numbers, individuals develop hypercholesterolemia and become at risk for cholesterol related diseases, notably coronary heart disease. Their studies led to the development of statin drugs.

Born

1940

April 18

Died

Living

Era

1940s

Country

—

About

Joseph, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1940 Born

Also on April 18

What else happened on this day, through history

796 King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The patrician Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days.
1428 Peace of Ferrara between Republic of Venice, Duchy of Milan, Republic of Florence and House of Gonzaga: ending of the second campaign of the Wars in Lombardy fought until the Treaty of Lodi in 1454, which will then guarantee the conditions for the development of the Italian Renaissance.
1506 The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid.
1518 Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.

See all of April 18 →

The world in 1940

When Joseph arrived

april 14 World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later.
april 23 The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
april 7 Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
april 8 The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia.

Read the year 1940 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on April 18

Alia Shawkat 1989– American actress Audrey Tang 1981– Taiwanese Minister of Digital Affairs and programmer Conan O'Brien 1963– American television host, comedian, and writer Derrick Brooks 1973– American football player Franz von Suppé 1819–1895 Austrian composer and conductor (died 1895) James Woods 1947– American actor and producer Jeff Dunham 1962– American ventriloquist and comedian Kathy Acker 1944–1997 American author and poet (died 1997) Miguel Cabrera 1983– Venezuelan baseball player

See everything on April 18 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1940

Abbas Kiarostami 1940–2016 Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (born 1940) Abdurrahman Wahid 1940–2009 Indonesian journalist and politician, fourth President of Indonesia (born 1940) Bruce Chatwin 1940–1989 English-French author (born 1940) Bruce Lee 1940–1973 American actor and martial artist (born 1940) David Jason 1940– English actor, director, and producer Edmund White 1940–2025 American novelist, memoirist, and essayist (died 2025) Fabrizio De André 1940–1999 Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1999) Fran Tarkenton 1940– American football player and sportscaster Frank Zappa 1940–1993 American singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer (died 1993)

Read about the year 1940 →

Keep going

More to explore

Joseph's birthday April 18 Joseph's zodiac Aries When Joseph arrived 1940