Alexander Rich | |
---|---|
Born |
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. | 15 November 1924
Died | 27 April 2015
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | (aged 90)
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Known for | discovery of polysomes and Z-DNA |
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biophysics |
Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Alexander Rich (15 November 1924 – 27 April 2015) was an American biologist and biophysicist. He was the William Thompson Sedgwick Professor of Biophysics at MIT (since 1958) and Harvard Medical School. Rich earned an A.B. ( magna cum laude) and an M.D. ( cum laude) from Harvard University. He was a post-doc of Linus Pauling. During this time he was a member of the RNA Tie Club, a social and discussion group which attacked the question of how DNA encodes proteins. He has over 600 publications to his name. [1]
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, [2] Rich was the founder of Alkermes and was a director beginning in 1987. Rich was co-chairman of the board of directors of Repligen, a biopharmaceutical company. He also served on the editorial board of Genomics and the Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics.
Rich spent his early life in Springfield, Massachusetts. [3] He grew up in a working-class family and worked in the U.S. Armory while he was in high school. From 1943 to 1946, Rich was in the U.S. Navy. [4]
He obtained a bachelor's in biochemical sciences from Harvard University in 1947 and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1949. [4] Rich died on 27 April 2015, aged 90. [5]
At Harvard, Rich studied with John Edsall, who inspired him to pursue an academic career. [3] In 1949, he moved to the California Institute of Technology to perform postdoctoral research with Linus Pauling. [4] He met James Watson during his time in Pauling's lab. [6] He stayed in Pauling's group until 1954. Rich worked as a section chief in physical chemistry at the National Institutes of Health from 1954 to 1958. [3] [4] He spent a sabbatical at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge (1955-1956), where he worked with Francis Crick and solved the structure of collagen. [7] He became a professor at MIT in 1958. He worked diligently at MIT until his death in 2015. [4] He still went into lab until two months before his death. [4]
His work played a pivotal role in the discovery of nucleic acid hybridization. [3] [8]
In 1955, Rich and Crick solved the structure of collagen. [7]
In 1963, Rich discovered polysomes: clusters of ribosomes which read one strand of mRNA simultaneously. [9]
From 1969 to 1980, he was a biology investigator looking for life on mars with NASA's Viking Mission to Mars. [10]
In 1973, Rich's lab determined the structure of tRNA. [11]
In 1979, Rich and co-workers at MIT grew a crystal of Z-DNA. [12] After 26 years of attempts, Rich et al. finally crystallised the junction box of B- and Z-DNA. Their results were published in an October 2005 Nature journal. [13] Whenever Z-DNA forms, there must be two junction boxes that allow the flip back to the canonical B-form of DNA.
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)
Alexander Rich | |
---|---|
Born |
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. | 15 November 1924
Died | 27 April 2015
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | (aged 90)
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Known for | discovery of polysomes and Z-DNA |
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biophysics |
Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Alexander Rich (15 November 1924 – 27 April 2015) was an American biologist and biophysicist. He was the William Thompson Sedgwick Professor of Biophysics at MIT (since 1958) and Harvard Medical School. Rich earned an A.B. ( magna cum laude) and an M.D. ( cum laude) from Harvard University. He was a post-doc of Linus Pauling. During this time he was a member of the RNA Tie Club, a social and discussion group which attacked the question of how DNA encodes proteins. He has over 600 publications to his name. [1]
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, [2] Rich was the founder of Alkermes and was a director beginning in 1987. Rich was co-chairman of the board of directors of Repligen, a biopharmaceutical company. He also served on the editorial board of Genomics and the Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics.
Rich spent his early life in Springfield, Massachusetts. [3] He grew up in a working-class family and worked in the U.S. Armory while he was in high school. From 1943 to 1946, Rich was in the U.S. Navy. [4]
He obtained a bachelor's in biochemical sciences from Harvard University in 1947 and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1949. [4] Rich died on 27 April 2015, aged 90. [5]
At Harvard, Rich studied with John Edsall, who inspired him to pursue an academic career. [3] In 1949, he moved to the California Institute of Technology to perform postdoctoral research with Linus Pauling. [4] He met James Watson during his time in Pauling's lab. [6] He stayed in Pauling's group until 1954. Rich worked as a section chief in physical chemistry at the National Institutes of Health from 1954 to 1958. [3] [4] He spent a sabbatical at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge (1955-1956), where he worked with Francis Crick and solved the structure of collagen. [7] He became a professor at MIT in 1958. He worked diligently at MIT until his death in 2015. [4] He still went into lab until two months before his death. [4]
His work played a pivotal role in the discovery of nucleic acid hybridization. [3] [8]
In 1955, Rich and Crick solved the structure of collagen. [7]
In 1963, Rich discovered polysomes: clusters of ribosomes which read one strand of mRNA simultaneously. [9]
From 1969 to 1980, he was a biology investigator looking for life on mars with NASA's Viking Mission to Mars. [10]
In 1973, Rich's lab determined the structure of tRNA. [11]
In 1979, Rich and co-workers at MIT grew a crystal of Z-DNA. [12] After 26 years of attempts, Rich et al. finally crystallised the junction box of B- and Z-DNA. Their results were published in an October 2005 Nature journal. [13] Whenever Z-DNA forms, there must be two junction boxes that allow the flip back to the canonical B-form of DNA.
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)