Aaron Klug
HonFRMS | |
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Born | Želva, Lithuania | 11 August 1926
Died | 20 November 2018 | (aged 92)
Nationality | British |
Education |
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Known for | Crystallographic electron microscopy |
Spouse |
Liebe Bobrow (m. 1948) |
Children | Two |
Awards |
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Scientific career | |
Fields | |
Institutions |
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Thesis | The kinetics of phase changes in solids (1953) |
Doctoral advisor | Douglas Hartree[2] |
Website | www2 |
Sir Aaron Klug
Early life and education
Klug was born in
Klug was part of the
He started to study microbiology, but then moved into physics and maths, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg. He studied physics under Reginald W. James and obtained his Master of Science degree at the University of Cape Town.[5] He was awarded an 1851 Research Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851,[3] which enabled him to move to England, completing his PhD in research physics at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1953.[6]
Career and research
Following his PhD, Klug moved to
Also in 1962, Klug became a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was later made an Honorary Fellow of the College.[5]
Between 1986 and 1996, Klug was director of the LMB. He served[
Awards and honours
Klug was awarded the
Mathematical physicist and crystallographer distinguished for his contributions to molecular biology, especially the structure of viruses. Development of a theory of simultaneous temperature and phase changes in steels led him to apply related mathematical methods to the problem of diffusion and chemical reactions of gases in thin layers of haemoglobin solutions and in red blood cells. Then the late Rosalind Franklin introduced him to the x-ray study of tobacco mosaic virus to which he contributed by his application and further development of Cochran and Crick's theory of diffraction from helical chain molecules. Klug's most important work is concerned with the structure of spherical viruses. Together with D. Caspar he developed a general theory of spherical shells built up of a regular array of asymmetric particles. Klug and his collaborators verified the theory by x-ray and electron microscope studies, thereby revealing new and hitherto unsuspected features of virus structure.[13]
Klug was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[14] and the American Philosophical Society[15]
In 2000, Klug received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[16] In 2005, he was awarded South Africa's Order of Mapungubwe (gold) for exceptional achievements in medical science.[17] He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci), also in 2005.[18]
In 2013, Israel's
Personal life
Klug married Liebe Bobrow in 1948;[5] they had two sons, one of whom predeceased them in 2000.[3] He died on 20 November 2018 in Cambridge.[20]
Though Klug had faced discrimination in South Africa, he remained religious and according to Sydney Brenner, he became more religious in his older age.[21]
See also
References
- ^ "Honorary Fellows". Royal Microscopical Society. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
- ^ Aaron Klug at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ a b c d Ferry, Georgina (26 November 2018). "Sir Aaron Klug obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- OCLC 41871384.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U23297. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ProQuest 301283484.
- PMID 15003624.
- ^ .
- ^ "Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering". Sciencecampaign.org.uk. Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
- Scripps Research Institute. 26 January 2004. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
- ^ "Aaron Klug (1926–)". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
- ^ "Sir Aaron Klug OM FRS". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 7 November 2015.
- ^ "Certificate of Election EC/1969/19: Aaron Klug". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019.
- ^ "Aaron Klug". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ "National Orders awards 27 September 2005". State of South Africa. 29 September 2005. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
- ^ "Sir Aaron Klug – The Academy of Medical Sciences". acmedsci.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
- Be'er Sheva. 14 April 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- PMID 30664739.
- ^ Hargittai, Istva'n & Magdolna. 2006. Candid Science VI: More Conversations with Famous Scientists. Imperial College Press, p. 33
Further reading
- Aaron Klug tells his life story at Web of Stories
- Aaron Klug interviews with Harry Kroto
- Aaron Klug article by Bob Weintraub, Chemistry in Israel, issue 11, Dec. 2002, p10.
- Aaron Klug interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 11 December 2007 (video)
- Listen to an oral history interview with Aaron Klug – a life story interview recorded for National Life Stories at the British Library
External links
- Aaron Klug on Nobelprize.org
- Portraits of Aaron Klug at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- The Papers of Sir Aaron Klug held at Churchill Archives Centre