Biologist Max Perutz dies

2002/02/07 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Biokimika
• Biografiak

Molecular biologist Max Perutz died yesterday from cancer. Perutz's greatest contribution was to find the structure of hemoglobin. This work was done in 1938. Years later, biochemist John Kendrew discovered myoglobin, a work for which both received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1962. It should be noted that biologists James Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA in 1953, obtaining the Nobel Prize in 1962. They were therefore years of bonanza for molecular biology.

To locate hemoglobin and myoglobin structures, biologists used X-ray diffraction, a technique that has since become very important in protein research. The two scientists who opened the doors of this field have already died when Kendrew died in 1997.