Aaron Klug
Sir Aaron Klug OM PRS (August 11, 1926 – November 20, 2018) was a Lithuanian-born British chemist and biophysicist.[1]
Aaron Klug | |
|---|---|
 Aaron Klug in 1979 | |
| Born | August 11, 1926 |
| Died | November 20, 2018 (aged 92) |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | electron crystallography |
| Awards | Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1982 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biophysics, chemistry |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge Birkbeck, University of London |
Klug won the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing crystallographic electron microscopy and working out the structure of nucleic acid-protein complexes.[2]
Biography
Klug was born in Želva, Lithuania to Jewish parents. The family moved to South Africa when he was two. Klug 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, University of London, in late 1953, and started working with Rosalind Franklin in John Bernal's lab. This experience aroused a lifelong interest in viruses. During his time there he worked on the structure of the tobacco mosaic virus.
In 1962 he moved to the newly built MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Klug used methods from X-ray diffraction to develop crystallographic electron microscopy. In this method, two-dimensional images of crystals taken from different angles are combined to make three-dimensional images of the target. He worked out the structure of important nucleic acid-protein complexes.[2]
Between 1986 and 1996 he was Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, and was knighted in 1988.[1] He was elected President of the Royal Society, and served from 1995–2000. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1995.
Klung died on November 20, 2018 in Cambridge at the age of 92.[3]
Aaron Klug Media
From right to left: Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Aaron Klug and his wife Liebe Bobrow, 1979
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Aaron Klug (1926-)". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (October 18, 1982). "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1982". Press release. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1982/index.html. Retrieved September 13, 2007.
- ↑ "Aaron Klug (1926 - 2018)". MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. November 21, 2018.
Further reading
- Finch, John (2008). A Nobel Fellow On Every Floor. Medical Research Council. 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 Archived 2012-03-15 at the Wayback Machine 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