Herman Branson

Herman Russell Branson (August 14, 1914 - June 7, 1995) was an African American physicist, best known for his research on protein structure. He was also the president of two colleges.

Work on the Protein Structure

In 1948, Branson joined Linus Pauling and Robert Corey in their research on the structure of proteins. He happened to be working under Pauling at the California Institute of Technology at the time.

Branson has been credited with laying the groundwork for the idea of Watson and Crick that amino acids form a helical structure in the proteins connected with reproduction and genetic transmission. In the original PNAS papers that describe what came to be known as the Alpha helix, he is listed simply as a collaborator with Pauling and Corey. [PNAS Classics -- Protein Structure [http://www.pnas.org/misc/classics1.shtml] ] However, Branson himself claimed that, while working under Pauling in 1948-49, he came up with the original helical model of the way in which amino acids might be arranged in a protein molecule. Branson disputed Pauling's later claim to have come up with the helical model by folding paper, and he said that he "resented" the way Pauling handled the matter. [Linus Pauling: Crank or Genius? [http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/physics/Bransonrobbed.pdf]

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