Selected Topics in the History of Biochemistry Personal Recollections. IV.

492 Pages·1995·9.047 MB·1-490\492

by  E.C. SLATER, RAINER JAENICKE and GIORGIO SEMENZA (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 30-39)
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 38
SELECTED TOPICS IN THE HISTORY
OF BIOCHEMISTRY
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS, IV·
Volume Editors:
E.C. SLATER
Department of Biochemistry, University of Southampton, Southampton
(United Kingdom)
RAINER JAENICKE
Institut fiir Biophysik und Physikalische Biochemie,
Universitat Regensburg, D-93040 Regensburg (Germany)
GIORGIO SEMENZA
Laboratorium fur Biochemie, ETH-Zentrum, CH-8092 Zurich (Switzerland)
ELSEVIER
AMSTERDAM · LAUSANNE · NEW YORK- OXFORD · SHANNON TOKYO
1995
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ν
PREFACE TO VOLUME 38
As in previous volumes (Vols. 35-37) in the Comprehensive
Biochemistry series encompassing Selected Topics in the His-
tory of Biochemistry, the chapters in this volume complement
The History of Biochemistry in Vols. 30-33 by M. Florkin and
Vol. 34A by P. Laszlo.
The aim of the editors was to invite selected authors who
had participated in or observed the explosive development of
biochemistry and molecular biology particularly in the second
half of this century to record their personal recollections of the
times and circumstances in which they did their work. The
authors were given a completely free rein with respect to both
content and style and the editors have made no attempt to
impose any sort of uniformity in the chapters. Each reflects
the flavour of the personality of the author.
This series of personal recollections was started some time
ago by one of us (G.S.) who was struck by the fact that the
explosive development of the biochemistry and molecular biol-
ogy and related sciences had led to the almost unique situation
that these fields had become of age at a time when their found-
ing fathers, or their scientific children, were alive and well. In
the intervening years, time has taken its toll and sadly many
leading figures have died in the last few years. In this volume,
two posthumous accounts are included, the first by Feodor
Lynen written a few years before his death in 1979, the second
by Claude Rimington, who died shortly after his 90th birthday
and after delivering the manuscript for this volume.
The contributors to this volume encompass a wide variety of
experiences in many different countries and in very different
fields of biochemistry. Some have worked close to the labora-
tory bench throughout their scientific life and are continuing
to do so. Others have been closely engaged in organisational
matters, both nationally and internationally. All mention inci-
dents in their own career or have observed those in others that
will be of interest to future historians who will record and
vi
assess the period in which our contributors have lived and
worked. It was an extremely exciting time for the life sciences.
It was also a period of major and often tragic historical events
that deeply affected the life and work of the generation to
which our contributors belong.
The editors wish to express their gratitude to all those who
made this series possible, especially the authors.
University of Southampton
Southampton, 1994 E.C. Slater
University ofRegensburg
Regensburg, 1994 R. Jaenicke
Swiss Institute of Technology
Zurich, 1994 G. Semenza
vii
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS VOLUME
A.A. BAYEV
Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences,
32, Vavilov Street, Moscow 117312 (Russia)
H. BEINERT
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics Research Institute,
Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee,
WI53226 (U.S.A.)
P.N. CAMPBELL
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University College
London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom)
F. GIBSON
The John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National
University, G.PO. Box 334, Canberra City, ACT. 2601 (Australia)
E.J.M. HELMREICH
Medical Clinic, Division of Clinical Biochemistry and Pathobiochemistry,
The University of Wiirzburg School of Medicine, Versbacherstrasse 5,
Wiirzburg (Germany)
F. LYNEN1"
Max-Planck-Institut fur Biochemie, Munich (Germany)
^deceased, August, 1979
C. RIMINGTON1
The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo (Norway)
1deceased, August 8, 1993
R.N. ROBERTSON
P.O. Box 9, Binalong, NSW2584 (Australia)
T. WIELAND
Max-Planck-Institut fur medizinische Forschung,
Jahnstrasse 29, 69115-126 Heidelberg (Germany)
B. WITKOP
Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics, NIDDK, National Institutes of
Health, Building 8, Room 403, Bethesda, MD 20892 (U.S.A.)
viii
Laurens van Deenen f
ix
In Memoriam
To our great sorrow we have to report the death of Professor
Laurens van Deenen, on September 4, 1994.
Laurens van Deenen was an outstanding scientist who
made great contributions to our knowledge of the structure
and function of lipids of biological importance, and their inter-
action with other components of the cell. He also increased our
understanding of the nature of membranes in biological sys-
tems and the relevant fields of enzymology. He was a pioneer
full of original ideas, and carried out his work with the best
available methods, always being cautious in the interpreta-
tion of his results.
Laurens van Deenen was the creator of a school which was
internationally recognized and as a person was generous to his
co-workers. He had wide interests outside his own discipline.
He joined the Editorial Board of Biochimica et Biophysica
Acta, and was one of the Managing Editors from 1964-1993
and Chairman during the years 1983-1989.
From 1977 onwards, Laurens van Deenen was also involved
in the editorship of the original Comprehensive Biochemistry
series, and was one of the initiators in developing a second
series, New Comprehensive Biochemistry, being responsible
for the realization of this venture. Here his wide knowledge of
biochemistry, stretching far beyond his own fields, his wisdom
and his judgement were great assets.
Throughout his life, Laurens van Deenen set high standards
for his own work; he was a stimulating colleague and a good
friend.
London, October 1994 Albert Neuberger
E.C. Slater, R. Jaenicke and G. Semenza (Eds.)
Selected Topics in the History of Biochemistry: Personal Recollections, TV
(Comprehensive Biochemistry Vol. 38) © 1995 Elsevier Science B.V.
Chapter 1
Life, Luck and Logic in Biochemical
Research*
FEODORLYNENt
Max-Planck Institut fur Zellchemie, Munich (Germany)
The invitation to present the first Mason Lecture, sponsored
by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is a signal honor,
and I should like to express my deep gratitude for the opportu-
nity. A Mason Lecture offers both an occasion and a stimulus
to look back on one's own career and to place one's experimen-
tal work into the framework of modern biochemistry. Doing
this, I realized the importance of the surroundings in which I
grew up and which eventually led me into science. I also real-
ized that frequently, just by accident, personal life and scien-
tific work are directed. This is very true in my case.
My father's and mother's families lived for many genera-
tions in the Rhine area, not too far away from Holland and
Belgium. Our family name, Lynen, very unusual in Germany,
probably originated in these countries. I would certainly have
become a Rhinelander if my father had not chosen engineering
as a profession and accepted an offer from the Technische
f Prof. Lynen suddenly passed away in August 1979, a short time after having ac-
cepted the invitation to write an autobiographic chapter for this series. We are grate-
ful to his widow, Eva Lynen, and to the Chicago University Press for allowing us to
reproduce Prof. Lynen's Mason Lecture, which was published in 'Perspectives in Biol-
ogy and Medicine' Vol. 12, 1969, pp. 204-218.
[1]
2 FEODOR LYNEN