Affiliation:
1. Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK
Abstract
Aaron Klug made outstanding contributions to the development of structural molecular biology. An early interest in viruses, stemming from work with Rosalind Franklin, prompted him to think deeply about extracting the information contained in electron micrographs. As a result, he proposed a method for making three-dimensional maps of biological specimens from the projected images given by micrographs. For this development and its application to complex molecular assemblies, he was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The recent revolution in biological structure determination, whereby atomic structures can now be determined from micrographs of frozen hydrated specimens, derives from this initial breakthrough. With colleagues, Aaron applied X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy to determine the structures and thereby understand the functions of many biological assemblies, including viruses, transfer RNA, chromatin and zinc fingers. He also made important forays into the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Aaron was director of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge from 1986 to 1996 and President of the Royal Society from 1995 to 2000.