Bert Sakmann studied medicine at the Universities of Tuebingen and Munich and received his qualification as professor at the University of Goettingen. He worked as research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, as British Council Fellow at the University College London und became research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. In 1983, Bert Sakmann was appointed Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, where he headed the department Cell Physiology. In 1988, he moved as Director to the Max Planck Institute for Biomedical Research in Heidelberg. In 2008, Bert Sakmann came to the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiologie, where he established and headed the extended emeritus group “Cortical column in silico”.

From 2009 to 2011, he acted as the inaugurating director of the Max Planck Florida Institute and subsequently headed the research group Digital Anatomy. The research accomplishments are summarized in

In 1991, together with Erwin Neher, Bert Sakmann earned the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for discoveries concerning the single ion channels in cell membranes”. He used part of his Nobel Prize Money to establish the annual Bernhard Katz Lecture in conjunction with the A. v. Humboldt Foundation to promote collaboration between young Israeli and German scientists. The list of further awards and honors Bert Sakmann received for his work is long and he was bestowed no less than nine honorary doctorates.