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Aaron Klug
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Aaron Klug, OM, FRS (born 11 August 1926 in Želva, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian-born 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[1].
Having moved to South Africa at the age of two, he 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.
Working with Rosalind Franklin in John Bernal's lab at Birkbeck aroused a lifelong interest in the study of viruses, and during his time there in the late 1950s he made discoveries in the structure of the tobacco mosaic virus. 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.
Between 1986 and 1996 he was director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, and was knighted in 1988. Sir Aaron was elected President of the Royal Society, and served from 1995-2000. He was appointed OM in 1995.
In 2005 Sir Aaron was awarded South Africa's Order of Mapungubwe (gold) for exceptional achievements in medical science[2].
- ^ Nobelprize.org laureate overview, accessed 14 February 2006
- ^ National Orders awards 27 September 2005 - South Africa government website, National Orders awards 27 September 2005, accessed 14 February 2006
- Autobiography and other Nobel Prize links
- Harry Kroto, NL Interviews Aaron Klug Freeview video provided by the Vega Science Trust.
- [1] Article on Aaron Klug by Bob Weintraub.
| Honorary Titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Michael Atiyah |
President of the Royal Society 1995–2000 |
Succeeded by The Lord May of Oxford |
Categories: British chemists | Biophysicists | Nobel laureates in Chemistry | Presidents of the Royal Society | Fellows of the Royal Society | Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge | Members of the Order of Merit | Members and associates of the United States National Academy of Sciences | South African people | South African Jews | Lithuanian Jews | British Jews | Jewish scientists | 1926 births | Living people