:Aaron Klug

{{Short description|British biophysicist and chemist (1926–2018)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Sir Aaron Klug

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OM|FRS|FMedSci|HonFRMS|size=100%}}

| image = Aaron Klug 1979.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Aaron Klug in 1979

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1926|8|11}}

| birth_place = Želva, Lithuania

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2018|11|20|1926|8|11}}

| death_place = Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England

| nationality = British

| field = {{Plainlist|

Biophysics
Chemistry}}

| work_institutions = {{Plainlist|

| education = {{Plainlist|

| doctoral_advisor = Douglas Hartree{{MathGenealogy|id=140772}}

| thesis_title = The kinetics of phase changes in solids

| thesis_year = 1953

| thesis_url = http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=35664

| doctoral_students =

| known_for = Crystallographic electron microscopy

| prizes = {{Plainlist|

}}Knighted 1988

OM 1995

| spouse = {{marriage|Liebe Bobrow|1948}}

| children = Two

| website = {{URL|https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/about-lmb/archive-and-alumni/alumni/aaron-klug/}}

}}

Sir Aaron Klug (11 August 1926 – 20 November 2018) was a British biophysicist and chemist. He was a 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.

Early life and education

File:Prince Claus, A. Klug and wife.jpg, Aaron Klug and his wife Liebe Bobrow, 1979]]

Klug was born in Želva, in Lithuania, to Jewish parents Lazar, a cattleman, and Bella (née Silin) Klug, with whom he emigrated to South Africa at the age of two. He was educated at Durban High School. Paul de Kruif's 1926 book, Microbe Hunters, aroused his interest in microbiology.

Klug was part of the Hashomer Hatzair Jewish Zionist youth movement in South Africa.{{Cite book |last=Shur |first=Chaim |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/41871384 |title=Shomrim in the land of Apartheid : the story of Hashomer Hatzair in South Africa 1935–1970 |date=1998 |publisher=Members of Hashomer Hatzair South Africa and Havazelet in conjunction with Yad Yaari |isbn=965-7014-17-4 |location=Givat Haviva |oclc=41871384}}{{page needed|date=September 2023}}{{better source needed|date=September 2023}}

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.{{Who's Who | doi =10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U23297 |author=Anon|title=Klug, Sir Aaron | id = U23297 | year = 2015 | edition = online Oxford University Press}} He was awarded an 1851 Research Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, which enabled him to move to England, completing his PhD in research physics at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1953.{{cite thesis|first=Aaron|last=Klug|title=The kinetics of phase changes in solids.|year=1953|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Cambridge|id={{ProQuest|301283484}}}}

Career and research

Following his PhD, Klug moved to Birkbeck College in the University of London in late 1953, and started working with chemist and X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin in the lab of crystallographer John Bernal. This experience aroused a lifelong interest in the study of viruses, and during his time there he made discoveries in the structure{{Cite journal | last1 = Amos | first1 = L. | last2 = Finch | first2 = J. T. | title = Aaron Klug and the revolution in biomolecular structure determination | doi = 10.1016/j.tcb.2004.01.002 | journal = Trends in Cell Biology | volume = 14 | issue = 3 | pages = 148–152 | year = 2004 | pmid = 15003624}} of the tobacco mosaic virus. In 1962 he moved to the newly built Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge. 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 studied the structure of transfer RNA, and found what is known as zinc fingers as well as the neurofibrils in Alzheimer's disease.{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)33109-X|title = Aaron Klug|journal = The Lancet|volume = 392|issue = 10164|pages = 2546|year = 2018|last1 = Watts|first1 = Geoff|doi-access = free}}

Also in 1962, Klug became a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was later made an Honorary Fellow of the college.

Between 1986 and 1996, Klug was director of the LMB. He served{{when|date=December 2018}} on the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/about/who/advisory.htm |title=Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering |publisher=Sciencecampaign.org.uk |access-date=11 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828110110/http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/about/who/advisory.htm |archive-date=28 August 2010 }} He also served{{when|date=December 2018}} on the Board of Scientific Governors at The Scripps Research Institute.{{cite web|url=https://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20040126/board.html|title=Scripps Research Scientific Board Meets in Florida|publisher=Scripps Research Institute|date=26 January 2004|access-date=3 March 2016}}

He and Dai Rees approached the Wellcome Trust to found the Wellcome Sanger Institute, which was a key player in the Human Genome Project.

=Awards and honours=

Klug was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1981. He was knighted by Elizabeth II in 1988.{{cite web|title=Aaron Klug (1926–)|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/klug.html|publisher=Jewish Virtual Library|access-date=7 November 2009}} In 1969 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS),{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107231927/https://royalsociety.org/people/aaron-klug-11759/|archive-date=7 November 2015|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/aaron-klug-11759/|publisher=Royal Society|location=London|title=Sir Aaron Klug OM FRS}} the oldest national scientific institution in the world. He was elected its President (PRS) from 1995 to 2000. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1995 – as is customary for Presidents of the Royal Society. His certificate of election to the Royal Society reads: {{centered pull quote|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.{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708141257/https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%3D%27EC%2F1969%2F19%27%29 |archive-date=8 July 2019 |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1969%2F19%27 |publisher=Royal Society |location=London |title=Certificate of Election EC/1969/19: Aaron Klug |url-status=dead}}}}

Klug was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences{{Cite web|title=Aaron Klug|url=https://www.amacad.org/person/aaron-klug|access-date=2021-12-15|website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|language=en}} and the American Philosophical Society{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Aaron+Klug&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-12-15|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}

In 2000, Klug received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}} In 2005, he was awarded South Africa's Order of Mapungubwe (gold) for exceptional achievements in medical science.{{cite web|title=National Orders awards 27 September 2005 |url=http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/orders/2005/klug.htm |publisher=State of South Africa |date=29 September 2005 |access-date=13 September 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930182743/http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/orders/2005/klug.htm |archive-date=30 September 2007 }} He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci), also in 2005.{{cite web|url=https://acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/sir-aaron-klug|title=Sir Aaron Klug – The Academy of Medical Sciences|website=acmedsci.ac.uk|access-date=24 November 2018|archive-date=24 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124162511/https://acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/sir-aaron-klug|url-status=dead}}

In 2013, Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev dedicated their centre for structural biology in Klug's name, Aaron Klug Integrated Centre for Biomolecular Structure. He, his family and the then-British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould, were in attendance. Klug was associated with the university and the town of Be'er Sheva, having visited them numerous times.{{cite web |title=Aaron Klug Integrated Centre for Biomolecular Structure and Function Dedicated |url=http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/Pages/news/klug_2013.aspx |website=Ben-Gurion University of the Negev |access-date=13 January 2019 |location=Be'er Sheva |language=en |date=14 April 2013}}{{cite web |last1=Ferry |first1=Georgina |title=Sir Aaron Klug obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/26/sir-aaron-klug-obituary |website=The Guardian |access-date=13 January 2019 |language=en |date=26 November 2018}}

Personal life

Klug married Liebe Bobrow in 1948; they had two sons, one of whom predeceased them in 2000. He died on 20 November 2018 in Cambridge.{{cite journal |last=Rhodes |first= D. |title=Aaron Klug (1926–2018) |journal=Nat Struct Mol Biol |volume=26 |pages=85–86 |year=2019|issue= 2 |doi=10.1038/s41594-018-0183-9 |doi-access=free |pmid= 30664739 }}

Though Klug had faced discrimination in South Africa, he remained religious and according to Sydney Brenner, he became more religious in his older age.Hargittai, Istva'n & Magdolna. 2006. Candid Science VI: More Conversations with Famous Scientists. Imperial College Press, p. 33

References

External links

{{Nobelprize}}
{{NPG name|id=5982}}
[https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1667 The Papers of Sir Aaron Klug] held at Churchill Archives Centre

{{s-ttl|title=President of the Royal Society|order=58th|years=1995–2000}}