Selected Topics in the History of Biochemistry Personal Recollections. III

401 Pages·1990·7.325 MB·English

by  GIORGIO SEMENZA and RAINER JAENICKE (Eds.)

COMPREHENSIVE
BIOCHEMISTRY
SECTION I (VOLUMES 1-4)
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND ORGANIC ASPECTS
OF BIOCHEMISTRY
SECTION II (VOLUMES 5-11)
CHEMISTRY OF BIOLOGICAL COMPOUNDS
SECTION III (VOLUMES 12-16)
BIOCHEMICAL REACTION MECHANISMS
SECTION IV (VOLUMES 17-21)
METABOLISM
SECTION V (VOLUMES 22-29)
CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
SECTION VI (VOLUMES 30-36)
A HISTORY OF BIOCHEMISTRY
COMPREHENSIVE
BIOCHEMISTRY
Series Editors:
ALBERT NEUBERGER
Chairman of Governing Body, The Lister Institute
of Preventive Medicine, University of London,
London (U.K.)
LAURENS L.M. VAN DEENEN
Professor of Biochemistry, Biochemical Laboratory,
Utrecht (The Netherlands)
VOLUME 37
SELECTED TOPICS IN THE HISTORY
OF BIOCHEMISTRY
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. III.
Volume Editors:
GIORGIO SEMENZA
Laboratorium fur Biochemie, ETH-Zentrum
Zurich (Switzerland)
RAINER JAENICKE
Institut fur Biophysik und Physikalische Biochemie
Universitat Regensburg
Regensburg (F.R.G.)
ELSEVIER
AMSTERDAM NEW YORK OXFORD
1990
© 1990, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (Biomedical Division)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
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Publisher, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (Biomedical Division), P.O. Box 1527,
1000 BX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to
persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from
any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the
material herein. Because of the rapid advances in the medical sciences, the Publisher
recommends that independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be
made.
Special regulations for readers in the U.S.A. This publication has been registered
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tion can be obtained from the CCC about conditions under which the photocopying of
parts of this publication may be made in the USA. All other copyright questions,
including photocopying outside of the USA, should be referred to the Publisher.
ISBN 0-444-81216-4 (volume) ISBN 0-444-80151-0 (series)
With 14 plates, 7 figures and 3 tables. This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Published by: Sole distributors for the USA and Canada:
Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Selected topics In the history of biochemistry personal
:
recollections / voluae editors. Giorgio Senenza. Ralner Jaenlcke.
p. c>. — (Coeprehensιve blochemlsty v. 37. Section VI. A
:
history of b 1 ochea1stry. >
Includes bibliographical references.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-444-81216-4 <alk. paper) I
1. Blocheelsts—Biography. 2. Biochemistry—Research—History.
I. Senenza. G.. 1928- II. Jaenlcke. R. (Ralner), 1930-
III. Series: Comprehensive biochemistry v. 37.
;
[DNLM: 1. Biochemistry--history--persona1 narratives. OU 4 C743
v. 37)
QD4 15.F54 vol. 37
[QP511.73
574. 19 2 s—dc20
(574.19·2"09221
(B]
DNLM/DLC
for Library of Congress 90-13926
CIP
Printed in The Netherlands
ν
GENERAL PREFACE
The Editors are keenly aware that the literature of Biochemistry is
already very large, in fact so widespread that it is increasingly
difficult to assemble the most pertinent material in a given area.
Beyond the ordinary textbook the subject matter of the rapidly
expanding knowledge of biochemistry is spread among innumerable
journals, monographs, and series of reviews. The Editors believe
that there is a real place for an advanced treatise in biochemistry
which assembles the principal areas of the subject in a single set of
books.
It would be ideal if an individual or a small group of biochemists
could produce such an advanced treatise, and within the time to
keep reasonably abreast of rapid advances, but this is at least diffi­
cult if not impossible. Instead, the Editors with the advice of the
Advisory Board, have assembled what they consider the best possi­
ble sequence of chapters written by competent authors; they must
take the responsibility for inevitable gaps of subject matter and
duplication which may result from this procedure.
Most evident to the modern biochemist, apart from the body of
knowledge of the chemistry and metabolism of biological sub­
stances, is the extent to which we must draw from recent concepts of
physical and organic chemistry, and in turn project into the vast
field of biology. Thus in the organization of Comprehensive Bio­
chemistry, sections II, III and IV, Chemistry of Biological Com­
pounds, Biochemical Reaction Mechanisms, and Metabolism may
be considered classical biochemistry, while the first and fifth sec­
tions provide selected material on the origins and projections of the
subject.
It is hoped that sub-division of the sections into bound volumes
will not only be convenient, but will find favour among students
concerned with specialized areas, and will permit easier future revi­
sions of the individual volumes. Towards the latter end particularly,
the Editors will welcome all comments in their effort to produce a
useful and efficient source of biochemical knowledge.
M. Florkinf
Liege/Rochester E.H. Stotz
vii
There is a history in all men's lives.
W. Shapespeare, Henry IV, Pt. 2
History is the essence of innumerable biographies.
T. Carlyle, On History
PREFACE TO VOLUME 37
Perhaps one of the most exciting developments in the biological
sciences of our times has been their merging with chemistry and
physics with the resulting appearance of biochemistry, biophysics,
molecular biology, and related sciences. The nearly explosive de
velopment of these 'newcomers' has led to the almost unique situa
tion that these new biological sciences have come of age at a time
when their founding fathers, or their scientific sons, are alive and
active.
It was therefore an almost obvious idea to ask them to write, for
the benefit of both students and senior scientists, personal accounts
of their scientific lives. With this idea in mind one of us (G.S.) had
already edited two volumes for John Wiley & Sons, which had,
however, a somewhat different format.
As in Vols. 35 and 36, the chapters in this volume are meant to
complement, with personal recollections, the History of Biochemis
try in the Comprehensive Biochemistry series (Vols. 30-33, by M.
Florkin and Vol. 34A, by P. Laszlo). It is hoped that the biographical
or autobiographical chapters will convey to the reader lively, albeit
at times subjective, views on the scientific scene as well as the social
environment in which the authors have operated and brought about
new concepts and pieces of knowledge. The Editors considered it
presumptuous to give the authors narrow guidelines or to suggest
changes in the chapters they received; they think that directness
and straightforwardness should be given priority over uniformity.
The contributions assembled in this volume will convey the flavour
of each author's particular personality; whatever the optical distor
tion of one chapter, it will be compensated for by the views in
another.
The development of today's life sciences was acted upon by se-
viii
rious and often tragic historical events. The Editors hope that this
message also will reach the readers, especially the young ones.
It proved an impossible task to group the contributions in a
strictly logical manner, whether according to subject matter, geo
graphical area, or time. In fact, most contributions cross each of
these borders. Nevertheless, the Editors hope that the reader will
find these contributions as interesting as they did.
The Editors want to express their gratitude to all individuals who
made this series possible; first of all to the authors themselves, who
not only wrote the texts, but also willingly collaborated in suggesting
further potential contributors, thereby acting as a kind of 'Editorial
Board at Large'. Thanks are due to Ms. U. Zilian who typed most of
the correspondence.
Swiss Institute of Technology Giorgio Semenza
Zurich, 1989
University of Regensburg Rainer Jaenicke
Regensburg, 1989
ix
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS VOLUME
J.J. ARAGON (Introduction for A. Sols)
Institute de Investigations Biomedicas C.S.I.C. and Departamento de
Bioquimica, Facultad de Medicina U.A.M., Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029 Madrid
(Spain)
H. CHANTRENNE
82, Chaussee de Tervuren, 1160 Brusseh (Belgium)
H. EISENBERG
Polymer Department, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100 (Israel)
C. GANCEDO (Introduction for A. Sols)
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas C.S.I.C. and Departamento de
Bioquimica, Facultad de Medicina U.A.M., Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029 Madrid
(Spain)
H.M. KALCKAR
Department of Chemistry, Metcalf Center for Science and Engineering,
590 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215 (U.S.A.)
L.L. KISSELEV
Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, The U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences,
32 Vavilov Street, Moscow 117984 (U.S.S.R.)
A. NEUBERGER
Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, Reynolds Building, St. Dunstans Road,
London W6 8RP(UK.)
M. PERUTZ
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road,
Cambridge CB2 2QH (U.K.)
A. ROTHSTEIN
Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto (Canada)
A. SOLS t
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas C.S.I.C. and Departamento de
Bioquimica, Facultad de Medicina U.A.M., Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029 Madrid
(Spain)
C.-L. TSOU
National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Academia
Sinica, Beijing, 100080 (China)
χ
LIST OF PLATES
(Photographs reproduced with permission of authors, publishers, and/or owners)
Plate 1. Albert Neuberger.
Plate 2. Wladimir Alexandrovich Engelhardt.
Plate 3. Militsa Nikolayevna Lyubimova Engelhardt.
Plate 4. W.A. Engelhardt, H. Theorell and F. Lipmann at a FEBS Meeting
(Varna, Bulgaria, 1971).
Plate 5. Herman M. Kalckar.
Plate 6. Irving Frantz Jr., Henry Borsook, Fritz Lipmann and Herman Kalckar
at the Symposium on Protein Synthesis, Pebble Beach Lodge, CA,
January 1950
Plate 7. Alberto Sols (t1989).
Plate 8. Jean Brachet (1909-1988).
Plate 9. Aser Rothstein.
Plate 10. Henryk Eisenberg.
Plate 11. 'Ringplatz' of Cernauti.
Plate 12. Wedding of Nutzi and Heini Eisenberg.
Plate 13. Research program suggested by A. Katchalsky in June 1947.
Plate 14. Chen-Lu Tsou.
xi
Section VI
A HISTORY OF BIOCHEMISTRY
Vol. 30. A History of Biochemistry
Part I. Proto-Biochemistry
Part. II. From Proto-Biochemistry to Biochemistry
Vol. 31. A History of Biochemistry
Part III. History of the identification of the sources of free
energy in organisms
Vol. 32. A History of Biochemistry
Part IV. Early studies on biosynthesis
Vol. 33. A History of Biochemistry
Part. V. The unravelling of biosynthetic pathways
Vol. 34. A History of Biochemistry
Part VI. History of molecular interpretations of physio
logical and biological concepts, and the origins of the con
ception of life as the expression of a molecular order
Vol. 35. A History of Biochemistry
Selected Topics in the History of Biochemistry
— Personal Recollections. I
Vol. 36. A History of Biochemistry
Selected Topics in the History of Biochemistry
— Personal Recollections. II
G. Semenza and R. Jaenicke (Eds.) Selected Topics in the History of Biochemistry: Personal Recollections, HI.
(Comprehensive Biochemistry Vol. 37) © 1990 Elsevier Science Publishers BV (Biomedical Division)
Chapter 1
Physics and the Riddle of Life
M. PERUTZ
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road,
Cambridge CB2 2QH (U.K.)
In the early 1940s Erwin Schrodinger, the discoverer of wave me
chanics, worked at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Dublin.
One day he met P.P. Ewald, another German theoretician who was
then professor at the University of Belfast. Ewald, who had been a
student in Gottingen before the First World War, gave Schrodinger
a paper that had been published in the Nachrichten aus der Biologie
der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften in Gottingen in 1935. It was by
N.W. Timofeeff-Ressovsky, K.G. Zimmer, and Max Delbrtick and
was titled The Nature of Genetic Mutations and the Structure of
the Gene' [1]. Apparently Schrodinger had been interested in that
subject for some time, but the paper fascinated him so much that he
made it the basis of a series of lectures at Trinity College, Dublin, in
February 1943; they were published by Cambridge University Press
in the following year, under the title What Is Life? The Physical
Aspect of the Living Cell.
The book is written in an engaging, lively, almost poetic style
('The probable life time of a radioactive atom is less predictable than
that of a healthy sparrow'). It aroused wide interest, especially
among young physicists. Up to 1948 it drew 65 reviews, and it has
probably by now sold 100 000 copies. It has since become a classic
that has provided a nourishing habitat for historians, sociologists,
and philosophers of science who have commented on it, on the
[i]