Aaron Klug

Infobox Scientist
name = Aaron Klug

---

image_width = 150px
caption =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1926|8|11
birth_place = Želva, Lithuania
nationality = United Kingdom
field = Biophysics, chemistry
work_institutions =
alma_mater =
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = crystallographic electron microscopy
prizes = Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1982
religion =
footnotes =

Sir Aaron Klug, OM, PRS (born 11 August 1926) 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. [cite press release | author=Nobel Foundation | title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1982 | url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1982/index.html | publisher=The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences | date=18 October 1982 | accessdate=2007-09-13]

Biography

Klug was born in Želva, Lithuania to Jewish parents Lazar and Bella (née Silin) Klug with whom he moved to South Africa at the age of two. He later 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.

Career

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.

He was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1981. Between 1986 and 1996 he was director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, and was knighted in 1988. He was elected President of the Royal Society, and served from 1995-2000. He was appointed OM in 1995 - as is customary for Presidents of the Royal Society. He is also a member of the Board of Scientific Governors at The Scripps Research Institute.

In 2005 he was awarded South Africa's Order of Mapungubwe (gold) for exceptional achievements in medical science. [cite web | author= | title=National Orders awards 27 September 2005 | url=http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/orders/2005/klug.htm | publisher=State of South Africa | date=2005-09-29 | accessdate=2007-09-13]

References

*Citation
id = PMID:15003624
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15003624
last=Amos
first=Linda A
last2=Finch
first2=John T
publication-date=2004 Mar
year=2004
title=Aaron Klug and the revolution in biomolecular structure determination.
volume=14
issue=3
periodical=Trends Cell Biol.
pages=148-52
doi = 10.1016/j.tcb.2004.01.002
*Citation
id = PMID:8088991
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8088991
last=Shafrir
first=E
publication-date=1994 Sep
year=1994
title=Aaron Klug--a pioneer of crystallographic electron microscopy.
volume=30
issue=9
periodical=Isr. J. Med. Sci.
pages=734
*Citation
id = PMID:8189761
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8189761
last=Shampo
first=M A
last2=Kyle
first2=R A
publication-date=1994 Jun
year=1994
title=Sir Aaron Klug--Nobel Prize winner for chemistry.
volume=69
issue=6
periodical=Mayo Clin. Proc.
pages=556
*Citation
id = PMID:6342048
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6342048
last=Wakabayashi
first=K
publication-date=1983 Feb
year=1983
title= [Accomplishment of Dr. Aaron Klug, winner of Nobel prize in chemistry, 1982]
volume=28
issue=2
periodical=Tanpakushitsu Kakusan Koso
pages=156-7

External links

* [http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1982/klug-autobio.html Aaron Klug biography] at the Nobel Foundation
* [http://www.vega.org.uk/video/programme/122 Aaron Klug interviews] with Harry Kroto
* [http://www.weizmann.ac.il/ICS/booklet/11/pdf/klug.pdf Aaron Klug article ] by Bob Weintraub.
*peoples Archive|id=6992|title=Sir Aaron Klug
* [http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/horwitz/ The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]

Persondata
NAME= Klug, Aaron
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= chemist, biophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH= August 11, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH= Želva, Lithuania
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=