John Kendrew

John Kendrew. He was a pioneering British biochemist and crystallographer who played a foundational role in the emergence of molecular biology. His determination of the three-dimensional atomic structure of the oxygen-storing protein myoglobin using X-ray crystallography provided the first detailed glimpse of a globular protein's architecture. For this groundbreaking achievement, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1962, sharing it with his colleague and mentor Max Perutz.

Early life and education

John Kendrew was born in Oxford in 1917, the son of a University of Oxford climatologist. He received his early education at the Dragon School before attending Clifton College in Bristol. In 1936, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he initially studied chemistry before his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. During the war, he served in the Royal Air Force, working on radar research and later holding positions in the Air Ministry and with Lord Mountbatten in Southeast Asia. After the war, influenced by the work of John Desmond Bernal and others, he returned to Cambridge to pursue research in the nascent field of biophysics under the supervision of Max Perutz at the Cavendish Laboratory.

Career and research

Upon returning to Cambridge, Kendrew joined Perutz's small research group, which was attempting to solve the structures of biological macromolecules using X-ray diffraction. He began his doctoral work on the muscle protein myoglobin, a smaller relative of Perutz's target, hemoglobin. In 1947, he became a fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and his work gained significant support from the Medical Research Council. Kendrew was instrumental in the 1962 establishment of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, a world-renowned institution that became a powerhouse for structural biology. He later served as the first director of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg from 1975 to 1982, helping to establish it as a major international research organization.

Myoglobin structure determination

The determination of myoglobin's structure was a monumental technical challenge. Kendrew and his team, which included scientists like David C. Phillips, used protein crystallography on crystals derived from the muscle of the sperm whale. A major breakthrough came with the use of multiple isomorphous replacement, a technique pioneered by Perutz, which allowed the resolution of the phase problem in crystallography. By 1957, they had produced a low-resolution model, and by 1959, they achieved an atomic-resolution structure at 2 Å. This revealed, for the first time, the complex, non-repetitive folding of a polypeptide chain and the position of the heme group. The model was famously described as a "forest of rods," vividly illustrating the intricate three-dimensional architecture essential for protein function.

Later work and legacy

Following his Nobel Prize-winning work, Kendrew's scientific interests expanded. He became deeply involved in the organization and promotion of science, particularly within Europe. His tenure as director of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory was pivotal in shaping continental molecular biology research. He also served as president of St John's College, Oxford, from 1981 to 1987. Kendrew was a founding editor of the influential Journal of Molecular Biology and helped author the seminal textbook The Structure and Action of Proteins. His early structural work on myoglobin laid the essential groundwork for all subsequent structural biology, enabling researchers to understand enzyme mechanisms, drug design, and the molecular basis of diseases.

Awards and honors

John Kendrew received numerous prestigious awards for his contributions to science. The pinnacle was the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, jointly awarded with Max Perutz. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1960 and received the society's Royal Medal in 1965. In 1974, he was awarded the Copley Medal, the Royal Society's oldest and most prestigious award. He was knighted in 1974, becoming Sir John Kendrew. He also held honorary degrees from many universities, including the University of Reading and the University of Bath, and was a member of several international academies, such as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Category:British biochemists Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry Category:1917 births Category:1997 deaths