Biochemist at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, he shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that nitric oxide acts as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system, prompting blood vessels to relax. Murad was born in Whiting, Indiana in 1936. His American mother was only 17 years old when she eloped with his father, an Albanian immigrant. His parents ran a restaurant, where he and his two brothers worked. Murad used to memorize customers' orders and mentally tally their bills, which he believed trained his memory and maths skills.