Max Perutz
From Freepedia
Max Ferdinand Perutz, OM (May 19 1914 – February 6 2002) was an Austrian-British molecular biologist.
He was born in Vienna in 1914. In 1936 he became a research student at the Cavendish Laboratory in a crystallography group directed by J. Bernal, and remained in Cambridge subsequently.
During World War II, he was asked to think of a way to improve the structural qualities of ice for Project Habbakuk and invented the mixture of ice and woodpulp known as pykrete.
In 1953 Perutz showed that the diffracted xrays from protein crystals could be phased by comparing the patterns from crystals of the protein with and without heavy atoms attached. In 1959 he determined the molecular structure of the protein hemoglobin, which transports oxygen in the blood, using this method. In 1962 he received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, with John Kendrew.
He established the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, England in 1962 and was chairman until 1979. He remained active in research to the end of his life.
His son Robin Perutz is a professor of chemistry at the University of York in England.
The Campus Vienna Biocenter is one of the largest R&D clusters in Austria with approx. 1,000 scientists from 40 nations at 16 organisations. Academic departments (University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, subsumed in the Max F. Perutz Laboratories), private research institutes (IMP -Institute of Molecular Pathology) and institutes of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology and GMI - Gregor Mendel-Institute) are also located here along with commercial R&D companies, service companies and training course centres. http://www.viennabiocenter.com/ http://www.mfpl.ac.at
Books
- Is Science Necessary: Essays on Science and Scientists
- I Wish I'd Made You Angry Earlier: Essays on Science, Science, Scientists, and Humanity
- Proteins and nucleic acids: structure and function.
- Science is Not a Quiet Life: Unravelling the Atomic Mechanism of Haemoglobin
- Glutamine Repeats and Neurodegenerative Diseases: Molecular Aspects
- Protein Structure: A User's Guide
- ** [(James D. Watson/Watson, James D.)] The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA; The Norton Critical Edition , which was published in 1980, edited by Gunther S. Stent. This book is strongly recommended for its reviews and papers for anyone interested in the history and philosophy of DNA.
External links
- Biography by his colleagues at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
- Freeview online video interview with Max Perutz provided by the Vega Science Trust (Approx 40 mins long)
- Max Perutz's CV at the MRC Lab
- Publications of Max Perutz
- Nobel website biography
- PhysicsWeb Max Perutz biographical article
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Categories: Biologist stubs | 1914 births | 2002 deaths | Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge | Molecular biologists | Austrian biologists | British biologists | Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners
