Hans Neurath (October 29, 1909 – April 2002) was a

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

, a leader in

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

chemistry, and the founding chairman of the Department of

Biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. He was born in

Vienna, Austria Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and received his doctorate in 1933 from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. He then studied in London and at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. In 1938, he was appointed professor at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, where he established a research program on the physical chemistry of proteins. Neurath was a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

of Germany.

Scientific research

Neurath had wide-ranging interests in the physical chemistry of proteins. He published seminal papers on protein structure and denaturation and debunked early models of protein structures, notably those of

William Astbury William Thomas Astbury FRS (25 February 1898 – 4 June 1961) was an English physicist and molecular biologist who made pioneering X-ray diffraction studies of biological molecules. His work on keratin provided the foundation for Linus Pauli ...

. His research focused mainly on the proteolytic enzymes, which catalyze the hydrolysis of protein substrates. Neurath's work on proteolytic enzymes included studies of trypsin, carboxypeptidase and thermolysin. Neurath also studied other aspects of protein chemistry, such as protein denaturation and biological regulation.

Writing and editing

Neurath wrote more than 400 papers. He was founding editor of two journals: ''Biochemistry'', which he edited from 1961 to 1991; and ''Protein Science,'' which he edited from 1991 to 1998. He also edited three volumes of "The Proteins," a reference work.

Work in Seattle

Neurath founded the department of biochemistry at the University of Washington, Seattle, and served as its chair from 1950 until 1975, when he retired. His department produced three winners of the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

: Edwin G. Krebs and Edmond H. Fischer, who stayed in Seattle; and

Martin Rodbell Martin Rodbell (December 1, 1925 – December 7, 1998) was an American biochemist and molecular endocrinologist who is best known for his discovery of G-proteins. He shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alfred G. Gilman for ...

, who earned his PhD in the department and went on to a distinguished career at the

NIH The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

. Neurath was also part-time scientific director of the

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, formerly known as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and also known as Fred Hutch or The Hutch, is a cancer research institute established in 1975 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. History ...

in Seattle.

Personal life

Neurath was married to Susi Spitzer Neurath for 41 years. He had a son, Peter F. Neurath, from an earlier marriage; two stepchildren, Margaret Albrecht and Frank Meyer; and three step-grandchildren. He died at the age of 92 on April 12, 2002, in Seattle.

Heritage

The Protein Society presents its annual Hans Neurath Award in recognition of "a recent contribution of unusual merit to basic protein science."

References

External links

Neurath webpage at UW Seattle

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neurath, Hans American biochemists Austrian molecular biologists American molecular biologists Duke University faculty University of Minnesota alumni 1909 births 2002 deaths Members of the National Academy of Medicine