Aaron Klug
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Sir Aaron Klug
South African biophysicist (1926–
Klug was born in Lithuania of South African parents, and moved to South Africa at the age of three. He studied medicine for a year at Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, and then changed to study science. He moved to Cape Town in 1947 where he took a master's degree in crystallography. In 1949 Klug moved to England, where he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. In 1954 he went to Birkbeck College, London, and was director of the Virus Structure Research Group there from 1958 to 1962, when he returned to Cambridge.
Klug originally developed a technique of improving results of electron microscopy by illuminating the micrograph with laser light. For micrographs of regular structures, a diffraction pattern is produced, from which extra information on the specimen can be obtained. At Birkbeck, Klug worked with J. D. Bernal on the polio virus. With Donald Caspar he went on to study small viruses. These are either rod-shaped or spherical, and consist of nucleic acids covered by a protein coat. Klug and Caspar developed a theory of how the coat could be formed by an arrangement of smallish quasiequivalent protein molecules.
At Cambridge, Klug worked on helical viruses showing how the protein units form. He went on to investigate the structure and action of transfer DNA in animal cells. More recently he has worked on chromatin in cells. Klug received the 1982 Nobel Prize for chemistry for his work in molecular biology.
Klug, Sir Aaron (klūg), 1926-, British biochemist, b. Lithuania. Raised and educated in South Africa, he moved to England and completed his doctorate at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1953. In the 1950s, Klug began to study viruses and eventually used electron microscopy and structural modeling to study the three-dimensional nature of the polio virus and other viruses. It was for this work that he won the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
(klŭg, klʊg), Aaron Born 1926.
South African-born British biochemist. He won a 1982 Nobel Prize for research on the structure of viruses and particles of proteins and nucleic acids.
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Aaron Klug
| Aaron Klug | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 August 1926 Želva, Lithuania |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | Biophysics, chemistry |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge Birkbeck, University of London |
| Known for | crystallographic electron microscopy[1] |
| Notable awards | Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1982 |
Sir Aaron Klug, OM, PRS (born 11 August 1926) is a Lithuanian-born[2] British chemist and biophysicist, and winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes.[3][4][5]
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Biography
Klug was born in Želva, Lithuania to Jewish parents Lazar and Bella (née Silin) Klug with whom he moved to South Africa at the age of two.[6] He later graduated with a degree in science at the University of Witwatersrand and studied crystallography at the University of Cape Town before moving to England, completing his doctorate at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1953.
He moved to Birkbeck College in the University of London in late 1953, and started working with Rosalind Franklin in John Bernal's lab. This experience aroused a lifelong interest in the study of viruses, and during his time there he made discoveries in the structure[7] of the tobacco mosaic virus. In 1962 he moved to the newly built MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Over the following decade Klug used methods from X-ray diffraction, microscopy and structural modelling to develop crystallographic electron microscopy in which a sequence of two-dimensional images of crystals taken from different angles are combined to produce three-dimensional images of the target.
He was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1981. Between 1986 and 1996 he was director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, and was knighted by Elizabeth II in 1988.[2] He was elected President of the Royal Society, and served from 1995–2000. He was appointed OM in 1995 – as is customary for Presidents of the Royal Society. He is also a member of the Board of Scientific Governors at The Scripps Research Institute.
In 2005 he was awarded South Africa's Order of Mapungubwe (gold) for exceptional achievements in medical science.[8]
He is a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.[9]
See also
References
- ^ Shafrir, E. (1994). "Aaron Klug--a pioneer of crystallographic electron microscopy". Israel journal of medical sciences 30 (9): 734. PMID 8088991.
- ^ a b "Aaron Klug (1926-)". Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/klug.html. Retrieved 2009–11–07.
- ^ Nobel Foundation (18 October 1982). "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1982" (Press release). The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1982/index.html. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
- ^ Wakabayashi, K. (1983). "Accomplishment of Dr. Aaron Klug, winner of Nobel prize in chemistry, 1982". Tanpakushitsu kakusan koso. Protein, nucleic acid, enzyme 28 (2): 156–157. PMID 6342048.
- ^ Shampo, M. A.; Kyle, R. A. (1994). "Sir Aaron Klug--Nobel Prize winner for chemistry". Mayo Clinic proceedings. Mayo Clinic 69 (6): 556. PMID 8189761.
- ^ "BBC - Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Sir Aaron Klug first broadcast Sunday 12 May 2002". http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/dbe5569d.
- ^ Amos, L.; Finch, J. T. (2004). "Aaron Klug and the revolution in biomolecular structure determination". Trends in Cell Biology 14 (3): 148–152. doi:10.1016/j.tcb.2004.01.002. PMID 15003624.
- ^ "National Orders awards 27 September 2005". State of South Africa. 29 September 2005. http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/orders/2005/klug.htm. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
- ^ "Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering". http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/about/who/advisory.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
Further reading
- John Finch; 'A Nobel Fellow On Every Floor', Medical Research Council 2008, 381 pp, ISBN 978-1-84046-940-0; this book is all about the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge.
- Aaron Klug tells his life story at Web of Stories
- Aaron Klug biography at the Nobel Foundation
- Aaron Klug interviews with Harry Kroto
- Aaron Klug article by Bob Weintraub.
- The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
- Aaron Klug interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 11 December 2007 (film)
- Listen to an oral history interview with Aaron Klug - a life story interview recorded for National Life Stories at the British Library
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