American pharmacologist and physiological chemist who made important contributions to a modern understanding of the ductless, or endocrine, glands. He isolated adrenaline in the form of a chemical derivative (1897) and crystallized insulin (1926). He also invented a primitive artificial kidney.

Abel taught at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1891–93), and at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (1893), and directed the Laboratory for Endocrine Research (1932). He also helped found and edit several important scientific periodicals, including the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.