Hartmut Michel (; born 18 July 1948) is a German

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 ...

, who received the 1988

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

for determination of the first crystal structure of an integral membrane protein, a membrane-bound complex of proteins and co-factors that is essential to

photosynthesis Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabo ...

Education and early life

He was born on 18 July 1948 in

Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...

. After compulsory military service, he studied biochemistry at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

, working for his final year at Dieter Oesterhelt's laboratory on

ATPase ATPases (, Adenosine 5'-TriPhosphatase, adenylpyrophosphatase, ATP monophosphatase, triphosphatase, ATP hydrolase, adenosine triphosphatase) are a class of enzymes that catalyze the decomposition of ATP into ADP and a free phosphate ion or ...

activity of

halobacteria Haloarchaea (halophilic archaea, halophilic archaebacteria, halobacteria) are a class (biology), class of prokaryotic archaea under the phylum Euryarchaeota, found in water Saturated and unsaturated compounds, saturated or nearly saturated with ...

Career and research

Hartmut later worked on the crystallisation of membrane proteins – essential for their structure elucidation by

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to Diffraction, diffract in specific directions. By measuring th ...

. He received the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

jointly with Johann Deisenhofer and Robert Huber in 1988. Together with Michel and Huber, Deisenhofer determined the three-dimensional structure of a protein complex found in certain photosynthetic bacteria. This membrane protein complex, called a photosynthetic reaction center, was known to play a crucial role in initiating a simple type of photosynthesis. Between 1982 and 1985, the three scientists used

to determine the exact arrangement of the more than 10,000 atoms that make up the protein complex. Their research increased the general understanding of the mechanisms of photosynthesis, revealed similarities between the photosynthetic processes of plants and bacteria and established a methodology for crystallising membrane proteins. Since 1987 he has been director of the Molecular Membrane Biology department at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, Germany, and professor of biochemistry at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

Awards and honours

In 1986, he received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bu ...

, which is the highest honour awarded in German research. In 1988, he received the

. He received the Bijvoet Medal at the Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research of

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

in 1989. In 1995 he became a member of the

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

. He also became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2005.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Michel, Hartmut 1948 births Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Living people German biochemists Nobel laureates in Chemistry German Nobel laureates Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners Foreign members of the Royal Society Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Max Planck Society people Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt Scientists from Frankfurt Researchers of photosynthesis Bijvoet Medal recipients Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina University of Tübingen alumni Max Planck Institute directors German crystallographers