Alexander Rich

Rich spent his early life in Springfield, Massachusetts.{{Cite web|url=https://biology.mit.edu/alexander-rich-the-importance-of-rna-and-the-development-of-nucleic-acid-hybridization/|title=Alexander Rich, the importance of RNA and the development of nucleic acid hybridization|date=2018-05-31|website=MIT Department of Biology|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-21}} He grew up in a working-class family and worked in the U.S. Armory while he was in high school. From 1943 to 1946, Rich was in the U.S. Navy.{{Cite web|url=http://news.mit.edu/2015/obituary-alexander-rich-dies-90-0428|title=Alexander Rich dies at 90|website=MIT News|date=28 April 2015 |access-date=2020-03-21}}

He obtained a bachelor's in biochemical sciences from Harvard University in 1947 and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1949. Rich died on 27 April 2015, aged 90.{{cite web|url=https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/obituary-alexander-rich-dies-90-0428|title=Alexander Rich dies at 90|author=Trafton A|year=2015}}

At Harvard, Rich studied with John Edsall, who inspired him to pursue an academic career. In 1949, he moved to the California Institute of Technology to perform postdoctoral research with Linus Pauling. He met James Watson during his time in Pauling's lab.{{Cite web|url=https://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/speaker/alex-rich/|title=Alex Rich|date=2016|website=Cold Spring Harbor Oral History|access-date=20 March 2020}} He stayed in Pauling's group until 1954. Rich worked as a section chief in physical chemistry at the National Institutes of Health from 1954 to 1958. He spent a sabbatical at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge (1955–1956), where he worked with Francis Crick and solved the structure of collagen.{{Cite journal|last1=Rich|first1=Alexander|last2=Crick|first2=F. H. C.|date=12 November 1955|title=The Structure of Collagen|url=http://www.nature.com/articles/176915a0|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=176|issue=4489|pages=915–916|doi=10.1038/176915a0|pmid=13272717|bibcode=1955Natur.176..915R|s2cid=9611917|issn=0028-0836}} He became a professor at MIT in 1958. He worked diligently at MIT until his death in 2015. He still went into lab until two months before his death.

His work played a pivotal role in the discovery of nucleic acid hybridization.{{Cite web|url=https://biology.mit.edu/gobind-khorana-and-the-rise-of-molecular-biology/|title=Gobind Khorana and the rise of molecular biology|date=2018-05-24|website=MIT Department of Biology|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-21}}

In 1955, Rich and Crick solved the structure of collagen.

In 1963, Rich discovered polysomes: clusters of ribosomes which read one strand of mRNA simultaneously.{{cite journal|vauthors=Warner JR, Knopf PM, Rich A|year=1963|title=A Multiple Ribosomal Structure in Protein Synthesis|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=49|issue=1|pages=122–129|bibcode=1963PNAS...49..122W|doi=10.1073/pnas.49.1.122|pmc=300639|pmid=13998950|doi-access=free}}

From 1969 to 1980, he was a biology investigator looking for life on mars with NASA's Viking Mission to Mars.{{Cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4212/ch7.html|title=ch7|website=history.nasa.gov|access-date=2020-03-21}}

In 1973, Rich's lab determined the structure of tRNA.{{cite journal|last1=Perrigue|first1=Patrick M.|last2=Erdmann|first2=Volker A.|last3=Barciszewski|first3=Jan|date=1 October 2015|title=Alexander Rich: In Memoriam|journal=Trends in Biochemical Sciences|volume=40|issue=11|pages=623–624|doi=10.1016/j.tibs.2015.08.009|pmid=26439533|doi-access=free}}

In 1979, Rich and co-workers at MIT grew a crystal of Z-DNA.{{cite journal|vauthors=Wang AH, Quigley GJ, Kolpak FJ, Crawford JL, van Boom JH, Van der Marel G, Rich A|year=1979|title=Molecular structure of a left-handed double helical DNA fragment at atomic resolution|journal=Nature|volume=282|issue=5740|pages=680–686|bibcode=1979Natur.282..680W|doi=10.1038/282680a0|pmid=514347|s2cid=4337955}} After 26 years of attempts, Rich et al. finally crystallised the junction box of B- and Z-DNA. Their results were published in an October 2005 Nature journal.{{cite journal|vauthors=Ha SC, Lowenhaupt K, Rich A, Kim YG, Kim KK|year=2005|title=Crystal structure of a junction between B-DNA and Z-DNA reveals two extruded bases|journal=Nature|volume=437|issue=7062|pages=1183–1186|bibcode=2005Natur.437.1183H|doi=10.1038/nature04088|pmid=16237447|s2cid=2539819}} Whenever Z-DNA forms, there must be two junction boxes that allow the flip back to the canonical B-form of DNA.

• a member of the National Academy of Sciences (appointed 17 April 1978)
• a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• a member of the Philosophical Society
• a member of the French Academy of Sciences
• a member of the Institute of Medicine
• a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of U.S. Genomics, Inc.
• President Bill Clinton recognized his outstanding scientific achievements with the National Medal of Science in 1995.
• The Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science (2000)
• 2001 William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement
• 2008 Welch Award in Chemistry: "For outstanding contributions to the understanding of the chemical and biochemical mechanisms in maintaining a living cell".{{cite web|title=2008 Welch Award in Chemistry Recipient |publisher=The Welch Foundation |url=http://www.welch1.org/Awards/WelchAwardinChemist0943/CurrentRecipient.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081019063524/http://www.welch1.org/Awards/WelchAwardinChemist0943/CurrentRecipient.asp |archive-date=19 October 2008 }}

• Sigma Xi Proctor Prize, Raleigh, NC (2001)
• Bower Award and Prize, the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA (2000)
• National Medal of Science, Washington, DC (1995)
• Linus Pauling Medal, American Chemical Society, Northwest Sections (1995)
• Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Biomedical Research, Brandeis Univ., Waltham, MA (1983)
• James R. Killian Faculty Achievement Award, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1980)
• Presidential Award, New York Academy of Science, New York, NY (1977)
• Theodore van Karmen Award for Viking Mars Mission, Washington, DC (1976)
• Skylab Achievement Award, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (1974)

• Foreign Member, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia (1994)
• Honorary Member, Japanese Biochemical Society, Tokyo, Japan (1986)
• Foreign Member, French Academy of Sciences, Paris, France (1984)
• Honorary Doctorate, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1981)
• American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, PA (1980)
• Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1978)
• National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (1970)
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC (1965)
• Fellow, Guggenheim Foundation (1963)
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, MA (1959)
• Fellow, National Research Council, Washington, DC (1949–51).

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |vauthors=Brown BA II, Lowenhaupt K, Wilbert CM, Hanlon EB, Rich A |year=2000 |title=The Za domain of the editing enzyme dsRNA adenosine deaminase binds left-handed Z-RNA as well as Z-DNA |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=97 |pages=13531–13586|jstor=2666404|issue=25 |doi=10.1073/pnas.240464097|bibcode = 2000PNAS...9713532B |pmc=17610 |pmid=11087828|doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |vauthors=Kim YG, Lowenhaupt K, Maas S, Herbert A, Schwartz T, Rich A |year=2000 |title=The Zab domain of the human RNA editing enzyme ADAR1 recognizes Z-DNA when surrounded by B-DNA |journal=J Biol Chem |volume=275 |pages=26828–26833 |pmid=10843996 |issue=35 |doi=10.1074/jbc.M003477200|doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |vauthors=Schwartz T, Rould MA, Lowenhaupt K, Herbert A, Rich A |year=1999 |title=Crystal structure of the Za domain of the human editing enzyme ADAR1 bound to left-handed Z-DNA |journal=Science |volume=284 |pages=1841–1845 |doi=10.1126/science.284.5421.1841 |pmid=10364558 |issue=5421}}

• [http://web.mit.edu/biology/www/facultyareas/facresearch/rich.shtml Rich Laboratory website]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5mGtO7YZ8A 2008 Welch Award in Chemistry – Alexander Rich]
• [http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/X/W/ Letter from Francis Crick to Alexander Rich] (5 December 1974)
• [http://www.ibiology.org/ibiomagazine/discovery-polynucleotide-hybridization.html Alexander Rich video: The Discovery of Polynucleotide Hybridization] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112115053/http://www.ibiology.org/ibiomagazine/discovery-polynucleotide-hybridization.html |date=12 November 2014 }}
• [https://biology.mit.edu/alexander-rich-the-importance-of-rna-and-the-development-of-nucleic-acid-hybridization/ MIT Article: Alexander Rich, the importance of RNA and the development of nucleic acid hybridization]
• [https://biology.mit.edu/video-post/a-conversation-with-alex-rich/ A Conversation with Alex Rich (10/03/2007)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321051117/https://biology.mit.edu/video-post/a-conversation-with-alex-rich/ |date=21 March 2020 }}
• [https://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/speaker/alex-rich/ Cold Spring Harbor Oral History Interview with Alex Rich]

{{Winners of the National Medal of Science|biological}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Alexander}}

Category:American biophysicists

Category:Harvard Medical School alumni

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty

Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences

Category:Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Category:National Medal of Science laureates

Category:1924 births

Category:2015 deaths

Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine

Category:Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates