Richard Axel ( born July 2 , 1946 in Brooklyn , New York City , New York ) is an American neuroscientist . He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004 for working on the olfactory receptors which he shared with Linda B. Buck . Richard Axel ( born July 2 , 1946 , New York City ) is an American neuroscientist whose work on the olfactory system won him and Linda B. Buck , a former post-doctoral scientist in his research group , the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004 .