Max Perutz

Max Perutz
Name	Max Perutz
Birth date	19 May 1914
Death date	6 February 2002
Birth place	Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Death place	Cambridge, England
Nationality	Austrian-British
Occupation	Molecular biologist, crystallographer
Known for	Structure of hemoglobin

Max Perutz

Max Perutz was an Austrian-born British molecular biologist and crystallographer who pioneered the determination of protein structures using X-ray crystallography. He led the Cambridge Laboratory of Molecular Biology, influenced the careers of scientists across Europe and North America, and shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for studies of the structures of hemoglobin and myoglobin. Perutz's work connected experimental physics techniques with biological problems, impacting structural biology, biochemistry, and medicine.

Early life and education

Perutz was born in Vienna in 1914 into a Jewish family during the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, contemporaneous with figures such as Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt, Arnold Schoenberg, Otto Wagner, and events like the aftermath of the First World War. He studied at the University of Vienna and later trained in chemistry and physical chemistry, influenced by scientists at institutions including the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, the University of Göttingen, and laboratories connected with researchers like Fritz Haber and Max Planck. Facing the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Anschluss, Perutz emigrated to the United Kingdom and took up studies at Trinity College, Cambridge and engaged with scholars at the Cavendish Laboratory and the Medical Research Council. His early mentors and colleagues included figures associated with Erwin Schrödinger's circle, the legacy of Niels Bohr, and contemporaries from the King's College London biophysics community.

Scientific career and research

Perutz established a research program at the newly formed Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge that bridged disciplines represented by the Royal Society, the Medical Research Council, and international centers such as the Carnegie Institution for Science, the California Institute of Technology, and the Max Planck Society. He recruited and collaborated with scientists who later became prominent, including researchers linked to Francis Crick, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, Alexander Todd, Sydney Brenner, and John Kendrew. Perutz introduced methods from X-ray physics developed in laboratories like Cavendish Laboratory, the Institut Pasteur, and institutions influenced by William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg to tackle biological macromolecules. His approach integrated techniques from the Royal Institution, concepts from Ernest Rutherford’s legacy, and instrumentation akin to that used at the Natural History Museum, London and the British Museum collections in structural analyses.

Perutz published on protein crystallography, electron density interpretation, and phase problem strategies, engaging with contemporaneous mathematical work seen in schools such as Cambridge University Mathematical Laboratory and collaborating with colleagues who later worked at Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Molecular structure of hemoglobin

Perutz solved the structure of hemoglobin by applying multiple isomorphous replacement and careful crystal preparation, building on foundational X-ray studies of small molecules by researchers at Royal Institution and concepts advanced by William Lawrence Bragg. Hemoglobin research intersected with studies of myoglobin by John Kendrew and paralleled structural work at institutions such as the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Columbia University, and the Max Planck Institute. The hemoglobin model revealed the quaternary arrangement of subunits and explained cooperative oxygen binding, echoing physiological themes explored by clinicians at St Bartholomew's Hospital, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and researchers associated with the National Institutes of Health. Perutz’s electron density maps and models influenced subsequent structural determinations at laboratories including Scripps Research Institute, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and departments at the University of Cambridge.

His mechanistic insights tied to medical questions relevant to the Royal College of Physicians and informed biochemical understanding at centers such as the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council Unit that supported translational research into blood disorders.

World War II and wartime work

During World War II, Perutz contributed to wartime scientific efforts in Britain, interacting with projects associated with organizations such as the Ministry of Supply, the Admiralty, and research networks overlapping with Tube Alloys and wartime investigations at Bletchley Park in the broader scientific mobilization. He continued crystallography work under wartime constraints and maintained contacts with émigré scientists from institutions like the University of Vienna and the Institute for Advanced Study. Postwar, his laboratory benefited from reconstruction efforts in Europe involving institutions such as the European Coal and Steel Community-era science collaborations, the Council of Europe cultural-scientific exchanges, and the expansion of international scientific aid including programs tied to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Awards, honours and legacy

Perutz received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1962 jointly with John Kendrew for studies of protein structure, and was elected to the Royal Society, earned honorary degrees from institutions like the University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of California, and held fellowships connected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded British and international honours linked to bodies such as the Order of Merit-adjacent circles, the Copley Medal, and recognitions comparable to prizes from the Royal Society and the Lasker Foundation. Perutz's legacy persists in establishments named or influenced by him, including research groups at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, and departments at the University of Cambridge, University of Vienna, and institutions across Europe and North America.

His mentorship fostered generations of scientists who joined faculties at universities including Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Imperial College London, University College London, Karolinska Institute, ETH Zurich, and the Max Planck Society.

Personal life and later years

Perutz married and had family ties with colleagues and intellectual circles linked to Viennese émigrés and British academia, interacting socially and professionally with figures associated with Trinity College, Cambridge, the Royal Institution, and the Cambridge University Press community. In later years he wrote essays and memoirs on science, practice, and policy that engaged with institutions such as the Royal Society, the Wellcome Trust, and scientific publishers like Nature and Scientific American. He died in 2002, leaving a corpus of scientific papers and influence spread across laboratories, museums, and academic institutes including the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge.

Category:1914 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry Category:British molecular biologists Category:Austrian emigrants to the United Kingdom