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Robert Huber—Nobel Prize for Chemistry
Stamp Vignette on Medical Science
Robert HuberNobel Prize for Chemistry
Marc A. Shampo, Ph.D., and Robert A. Kyle, M.D.
R
obert Huber, a German biochemist, shared the 1988 Nobel Prize for chemistry with two German scientists, Johann Deisenhofer (1943) and Hartmut Michel (1948), for their determination of the structure of a protein complex that is essential to photosynthesis in bacteria. Michel crystallized the membrane-bound protein photosynthetic reaction center of the Rhodopseudomonas viridis bacterium , and then Huber and Deisenhofer used xray crystallography to elucidate the positions of approximately 10,000 atoms in the protein complex. By 1985, the three scientists had succeeded in describing the complete
structure of the protein that is essential to photosynthesis in certain bacteria. Although bacterial photosynthesis is somewhat simpler than that in plants , the work of Huber, Deisenhofer, and Michel substantially increased the understanding of the mechanisms of photosynthesis in general. Their work had other applications as well because membrane-bound proteins are important in the understanding of the membrane structure of cells in health and in disease. Huber was born on Feb. 20, 1937, in Munich, Germany. He graduated from the Technical University in Munich in 1960 and earned a Ph.D. degree there in 1963. After receiving his doctorate, he joined the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry at Martinsried, where he worked with Deisenhofer and Michel. He also worked at the Technical Universit y in Munich . In addition to the Nobel Prize, Huber was awarded many honors and medals for his scientific work, including honorary doctorates from the University of Louvain (Belgium) in 1987, the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) in 1989, and the Univer sity of Rome (Italy) in 1991, the E. K. Frey Medal in 1972, the Otto Warburg Medal in 1977, and the Emil von Behring Medal in 1982. He was honored on a stamp issued by Sierra Leone in 1995.
For personal use. Mass reproduce only with permission from Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Robert HuberNobel Prize for Chemistry
Marc A. Shampo, Ph.D., and Robert A. Kyle, M.D.
R
obert Huber, a German biochemist, shared the 1988 Nobel Prize for chemistry with two German scientists, Johann Deisenhofer (1943) and Hartmut Michel (1948), for their determination of the structure of a protein complex that is essential to photosynthesis in bacteria. Michel crystallized the membrane-bound protein photosynthetic reaction center of the Rhodopseudomonas viridis bacterium , and then Huber and Deisenhofer used xray crystallography to elucidate the positions of approximately 10,000 atoms in the protein complex. By 1985, the three scientists had succeeded in describing the complete
structure of the protein that is essential to photosynthesis in certain bacteria. Although bacterial photosynthesis is somewhat simpler than that in plants , the work of Huber, Deisenhofer, and Michel substantially increased the understanding of the mechanisms of photosynthesis in general. Their work had other applications as well because membrane-bound proteins are important in the understanding of the membrane structure of cells in health and in disease. Huber was born on Feb. 20, 1937, in Munich, Germany. He graduated from the Technical University in Munich in 1960 and earned a Ph.D. degree there in 1963. After receiving his doctorate, he joined the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry at Martinsried, where he worked with Deisenhofer and Michel. He also worked at the Technical Universit y in Munich . In addition to the Nobel Prize, Huber was awarded many honors and medals for his scientific work, including honorary doctorates from the University of Louvain (Belgium) in 1987, the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) in 1989, and the Univer sity of Rome (Italy) in 1991, the E. K. Frey Medal in 1972, the Otto Warburg Medal in 1977, and the Emil von Behring Medal in 1982. He was honored on a stamp issued by Sierra Leone in 1995.
For personal use. Mass reproduce only with permission from Mayo Clinic Proceedings.