Aaron Klug - A Long Way from Durban
A Biography

The life and work of Aaron Klug, Nobel prize winner and one of the pioneers of structural molecular biology.

Kenneth C. Holmes (Author)

9781107147379, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 February 2017

378 pages, 60 b/w illus. 13 colour illus.
23.5 x 16 x 2.4 cm, 0.78 kg

'… this book is a nice slice of scientific history (including, for a change, actual science) and a fairly comprehensive who's who of post-war British biology …' D. Cornish, The Biologist

The atomic structures of macromolecules provide the key to understanding how life works. Aaron Klug led the way in the development of methods for solving such structures and is one of the pioneers of structural molecular biology. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1982 for his work. Illuminating both his personal life and scientific achievements, this unique biography begins with Klug's youth in Durban and his studies at Johannesburg, Cape Town and then Trinity College, Cambridge. Holmes proceeds to explore Klug's career from his work on the structure of viruses with Rosalind Franklin at Birkbeck College, London to his time as Director of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge and as President of the Royal Society. Drawing on their long-term collaboration, interviews and unique access to Klug's archives, Holmes provides a fascinating account of an innovative man and his place in the history of structural molecular biology.

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I. From Durban to Birkbeck College: 1. Durban and Johannesburg
2. Cape Town
3. Cambridge
4. The first visit to Israel
5. Back to Cambridge
6. Birkbeck-1
7. Birkbeck-2
Part II. Science at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology: 8. The Laboratory of Molecular Biology
9. Spherical virus structure
10. Tobacco mosaic virus
11. From Thon rings to modern dance
12. Tomography
13. Transfer RNA
14. Chromatin and nucleosomes
15. Zinc fingers
Part III. Duties and Rewards: 16. Peterhouse
17. Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology
18. Presidency of the Royal Society
19. Ben Gurion University
20. Prizes
21. Envoi
Appendicies: Appendix 1. Aaron's Birthplace - Zhelva, Lithuania Mark Gevisser
Appendix 2. Diffraction
Appendix 3. Aaron Klug's scientific publications
Index.

Subject Areas: Molecular biology [PSD], Biochemistry [PSB], Biology, life sciences [PS], History of science [PDX], Science: general issues [PD], Mathematics & science [P]