John Kendrew

John Kendrew

Infobox Scientist
name = John Cowdery Kendrewy


image_width =
caption = John Kendrew
birth_date = 24 March 1917
birth_place = Oxford, England
death_date = death date and age|1997|8|23|1917|3|24|df=y
death_place = Cambridge, England
nationality = United Kingdom
field = Crystallography
work_institution = Royal Air Force
alma_mater = University of Cambridge
doctoral_advisor = Max Perutz
doctoral_students =
known_for = Heme-containing proteins
prizes = Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1962)

Sir John Cowdery Kendrew (24 March 1917 – 23 August 1997) was an English biochemist and crystallographer who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Max Perutz; their group in the Cavendish Laboratory investigated the structure of heme-containing proteins.

Biography

He was born in Oxford, son of Wilford George Kendrew, reader in climatology in the University of Oxford and Evelyn May Graham Sandburg, art historian. He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, as well as Clifton College in Bristol, 1930-1936. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge in 1936, as a Major Scholar, graduating in chemistry in 1939. He spent the early months of World War II doing research on reaction kinetics, and then became a member of the Air Ministry Research Establishment, working on radar. In 1940 he became engaged in operational research at the Royal Air Force headquarters, holding the honorary rank of Wing Commander R.A.F.

During the war years, he became increasingly interested in biochemical problems, and decided to work on the structure of proteins.

Crystallography

In 1945 he approached Dr. Max Perutz in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Joseph Barcroft, a respiratory physiologist, suggested he might make a comparative protein crystallographic study of adult and fetal sheep hemoglobin, and he started that work.

In 1947 he became a Fellow of Peterhouse, and MRC [the Medical Research Council] agreed to create a research unit for the study of the molecular structure of biological systems, under the direction of Sir Lawrence Bragg. In 1954 he became a Reader at the Davy-Faraday Laboratory of the Royal Institution in London.

Crystal structure of myoglobin

Kendrew shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for chemistry with Max Perutz for determining the first atomic structures of proteins using X-ray crystallography. Their work was done at what is now the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Kendrew determined the structure of the protein myoglobin, which stores oxygen in muscle cells.

In 1947 the MRC agreed to make a research unit for the Study of the Molecular Structure of Biological Systems. The original studies were on the structure of sheep hemoglobin, but when this work had progressed as far as was possible using the resources then available, Kendrew embarked on the study of myoglobin, a molecule only a quarter the size of the hemoglobin molecule. His initial source of raw material was horse heart, but the crystals thus obtained were too small for X-ray analysis. Kendrew realized that the oxygen-conserving tissue of diving mammals could offer a better prospect, and a chance encounter led to his acquiring a large chunk of whale meat from Peru. Whale myoglobin did give large crystals with clean X-ray diffraction patterns. However, the problem still remained insurmountable, until in 1953 Max Perutz discovered that the phase problem in analysis of the diffraction patterns could be solved by multiple isomorphous replacement — comparison of patterns from several crystals; one from the native protein, and others that had been soaked in solutions of heavy metals and had metal ions introduced in different well-defined positions. An electron density map at 6 angstrom (0.6 nanometre) resolution was obtained by 1957, and by 1959 an atomic model could be built at 2 angstrom (0.2 nm) resolution.

Later career

In 1963 Kendrew became one of the founders of the European Molecular Biology Organization; as well, he founded and was for many years editor-in-chief of the Journal of Molecular Biology. He became Fellow of the American Society of Biological Chemists in 1967 and honorary member of the International Academy of Science. In 1974 he succeeded in persuading governments to establish the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg and became its first director. From 1974 to 1979 he was a Trustee of the British Museum, and from 1974 to 1988 he was successively Secretary General, Vice-President, and President of the International Council of Scientific Unions.

After his retirement from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Kendrew became President of St. John's College, Oxford, a post he held from 1981-1987. From 1974-79 he was a Trustee of the British Museum and from 1974 to 1988 he was successively Secretary General, Vice-President and President of the International Council of Scientific Unions. Kendrew's entry in Who's Who lists ten other important National and International committees on which he served as either member or chairman.

References


*Citation | id = PMID:14031911 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14031911 | last=KENDREW | first=J C | publication-date=1962 Oct | year=1962 | title=The structure of globular proteins. | volume=4 | issue= | periodical=Comp. Biochem. Physiol. | pages=249-52
*Citation | id = PMID:14455128 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14455128 | last=KENDREW | first=J C | publication-date=1961 Dec | year=1961 | title=The three-dimensional structure of a protein molecule. | volume=205 | issue= | periodical=Sci. Am. | pages=96-110
*Citation | id = PMID:13783432 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13783432 | last=WATSON | first=H C | last2=KENDREW | first2=J C | publication-date=1961 May 20 | year=1961 | title=The amino-acid sequence of sperm whale myoglobin. Comparison between the amino-acid sequences of sperm whale myoglobin and of human hemoglobin. | volume=190 | issue= | periodical=Nature | pages=670-2
*Citation | id = PMID:13752474 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13752474 | last=KENDREW | first=J C | last2=WATSON | first2=H C | last3=STRANDBERG | first3=B E | last4=DICKERSON | first4=R E | publication-date=1961 May 20 | year=1961 | title=The amino-acid sequence x-ray methods, and its correlation with chemical data. | volume=190 | issue= | periodical=Nature | pages=666-70
*Citation | id = PMID:13672267 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13672267 | last=KENDREW | first=J C | publication-date=1959 Jul | year=1959 | title=Structure and function in myoglobin and other proteins. | volume=18 | issue=2, Part 1 | periodical=Fed. Proc. | pages=740-51
*Citation | id = PMID:13517261 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13517261 | last=KENDREW | first=J C | last2=BODO | first2=G | last3=DINTZIS | first3=H M | last4=PARRISH | first4=R G | publication-date=1958 Mar 8 | year=1958 | title=A three-dimensional model of the myoglobin molecule obtained by x-ray analysis. | volume=181 | issue=4610 | periodical=Nature | pages=662-6
*Citation | id = PMID:13369569 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13369569 | last=INGRAM | first=D J | last2=KENDREW | first2=J C | publication-date=1956 Oct 27 | year=1956 | title=Orientation of the haem group in myoglobin and its relation to the polypeptide chain direction. | volume=178 | issue=4539 | periodical=Nature | pages=905-6
*Citation | id = PMID:13235845 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13235845 | last=KENDREW | first=J C | last2=PARRIS | first2=R G | publication-date=1955 Jan 29 | year=1955 | title=Imidazole complexes of myoglobin and the position of the haem group. | volume=175 | issue=4448 | periodical=Nature | pages=206-7
*Citation | id = PMID:13214049 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13214049 | last=KENDREW | first=J C | last2=PARRISH | first2=R G | last3=MARRACK | first3=J R | last4=ORLANS | first4=E S | publication-date=1954 Nov 20 | year=1954 | title=The species specificity of myoglobin. | volume=174 | issue=4438 | periodical=Nature | pages=946-9
*Citation | id = PMID:18144277 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18144277 | last=KENDREW | first=J C | publication-date=1949 Apr | year=1949 | title=Foetal haemoglobin. | volume=8 | issue=30 | pages=80-5
* Thread of Life by Sir John Kendrew: (ISBN 0-7135-0618-0) G.Bell, 1966;

External links

* Max Perutz [http://img.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/BCA/obits/jck.html obituary] of John Kendrew
* [http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1962/kendrew-bio.html Nobel website biography]

Persondata
NAME= Kendrew, John Cowdery
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= English biochemist and crystallographer who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Max Perutz
DATE OF BIRTH= 24 March 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH= Oxford, England
DATE OF DEATH= 1997-8-23
PLACE OF DEATH= Cambridge, England


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • John Kendrew — Sir John Cowdery Kendrew (24 mars 1917 à Oxford 23 août 1997 à Cambridge) était un biochimiste britannique. Lui et Max Ferdinand Perutz sont colauréats du prix Nobel de chimie de 1962 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Kendrew — con un modelo de la molécula de mioglobina John Cowdery Kendrew (Oxford, Inglaterra 1917 Cambridge 1997) fue un químico inglés galardonado con el Premio Nobel de Química del año 1962. Biografía Estu …   Wikipedia Español

  • John Kendrew (inventor) — John Kendrew was a Darlington optician who invented the process of the mechanical spinning of flaxen yarn in a flax mill. He had a mill for grinding glass at Low Mill at Darlington on the River Skerne. He arranged for Thomas Porthouse, who as a… …   Wikipedia

  • John Kendrew — John Cowdery Kendrew. Sir John Cowdery Kendrew (* 24. März 1917 in Oxford; † 23. August 1997 in Cambridge) war ein britischer Biochemiker und Molekularbiologe. Er erhielt 1962 gemeinsam mit Max Ferdinand Perutz den Nobelpreis für Chemie. Sein… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Cowdery Kendrew — John Kendrew John Kendrew Sir John Cowdery Kendrew (né le 24 mars 1917 à Oxford et mort le 23 août 1997 à Cambridge), était un biochimiste britannique. Il obtint en 1962, avec Max Ferdinand Perutz, le prix Nobel de chimie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Marshall (industrialist) — John Marshall (27 July 1765 6 June 1845) was a British businessman and politician from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.Marshall was born at number 1, Briggate, Leeds, the son of Jeremiah (1731–1787), a linen draper, and his wife Mary (1728–1799),… …   Wikipedia

  • John Randall (physicien) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Randall. Sir John Randall Naissance 23 mars 1905 Newton le Willows, St Helens, Lancashire (Royaume Uni) Décès 16 juin 1984 Nationalité Britannique Ch …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Randall (physicist) — Infobox Scientist name = Sir John Randall box width = image width =150px caption = Sir John Randall birth date = March 23, 1905 birth place = death date = June 16, 1984 death place = residence = citizenship = nationality = British ethnicity =… …   Wikipedia

  • John C. Kendrew — John Cowdery Kendrew. Sir John Cowdery Kendrew (* 24. März 1917 in Oxford; † 23. August 1997 in Cambridge) war ein britischer Biochemiker und Molekularbiologe. Er erhielt 1962 gemeinsam mit Max Ferdinand Perutz den Nobelpreis für Chemie. Sein… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Cowdery Kendrew — John Cowdery Kendrew. Sir John Cowdery Kendrew (* 24. März 1917 in Oxford; † 23. August 1997 in Cambridge) war ein britischer Biochemiker und Molekularbiologe. Er erhielt 1962 gemeinsam mit Max Ferdinand Perutz den Nobelpreis für Chemie. Sein… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”