I was born in Ludwigsburg, Württemberg, in the southwestern part of the Federal Republic of Germany on July 18, 1948, as the elder son of Karl and Frieda Michel. My ancestors lived in that area for generations, mainly as farmers. There the inherited land is equally divided among sisters and brothers, and not enough land…

Editors: Dr Lars-Erik Andréasson, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Chalmers University of Technology, S-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden Illustrator: Dr Bo Furugren, Department of Chemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7015, S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden Printed by: Tryckindustri AB, Solna 1988 Copyright © , Information Department, Box 50005, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden, Tel. +46-8-6739500, Fax…

Life on earth is dependent on photosynthesis, the process in which solar light is converted into chemical energy and stored as carbohydrates. The carbohydrates are, finally, degraded to carbon dioxide and water in the cell respiration in a reaction requiring molecular oxygen. The liberated energy is utilized to power the life processes. In photosynthesis, the…

The achievements by Deisenhofer, Huber and Michel that were recognized with the 1988 Nobel Prize in chemistry signify breakthroughs in several fields of research: Photosynthesis: The knowledge about the location of the photochemically active groups in the reaction center has resulted in a deeper understanding of the mechanism of the primary reaction in photosynthetic organisms.…

An important step in biochemical research was taken in 1980 when Hartmut Michel managed to crystallize a membrane protein (bacteriorhodopsin) after having solubilized the lipid bilayer of the membrane with a detergent. Detergents, which are structurally similar to membrane lipids, form micelles in water. They bind to membrane proteins with their fatty, hydrophobic tails creating…

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Scientific American, (1987) Vol 256:6, 42-48. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, (1987) 12, 321-326. Nature (1985) 318, 618-624. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, (press release).  

1771 Joseph Priestley, England, discovers that plants can “purify” air that has been “burned out” by a candle. 1779 Jan Ingenhousz, The Netherlands, demonstrates that the plant in Priestley’s experiment is dependent on light and its green parts. 1782-1804 Several researchers show that carbon dioxide and water are stored as organic matter by plants. 1845…

Contents: Based on materials from the 1988 Nobel Poster for Chemistry.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry to       Dr Johann Deisenhofer University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA Professor Robert Huber Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Martinsried, FRG Dr Hartmut Michel Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysik, Frankfurt/Main, FRG     for the determination of the three-dimensional structure of…