John Tileston Edsall (3 November 1902 – 12 June 2002) was a protein scientist, who contributed significantly to the understanding of the

hydrophobic interaction In chemistry, hydrophobicity is the chemical property of a molecule (called a hydrophobe) that is seemingly repelled from a mass of water. In contrast, hydrophiles are attracted to water. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be nonpolar and, thus, ...

. He was an elected member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, the United States

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 Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

Early life

Born in Philadelphia, John Edsall moved to Boston with his family at the age of 10. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in chemistry. At Harvard he was a good friend of the physicist

Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often ...

. He wrote an account of his life and career in a review.

Protein research

Edsall worked with Edwin Cohn during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to apply protein methods to

blood fractionation Blood fractionation is the process of fractionating whole blood, or separating it into its component parts. This is typically done by centrifuging the blood. The resulting components are: * a clear solution of blood plasma in the upper pha ...

. Subsequently, in 1943, they published a book ''Proteins, Amino Acids and Peptides''. This had a profound influence on the next generation of protein scientists. Long afterwards Edsall wrote an account of his interaction with Cohn. He published numerous papers on protein chemistry, including work on myosin, fibrinogen, light scattering, measurement of tyrosine groups by ultraviolet spectroscopy, and carbonic anhydrase.

Advances in Protein Chemistry

In 1944 John Edsall was a founding co-editor of the journal ''Advances in Protein Chemistry''. He was invited by the publisher

Kurt Jacoby Kurt is a male given name in Germanic languages. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Konrad/Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. Like Conrad, it can also a surname an ...

and the founding editor Tim Anson, whom he had met in 1924 in Cambridge (although they were both undergraduates at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

at nearly the same time). He remained series editor up to volume 47 (1995).

The ''Journal of Biological Chemistry''

From 1958 to 1967 Edsall was chief editor of the ''

Journal of Biological Chemistry The ''Journal of Biological Chemistry'' (''JBC'') is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1905., jbc.org Since 1925, it is published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It covers research i ...

'', years that Irving Klotz described in the following terms:

These years cover the period of the transition from a stodgy classical journal to a modern exciting one, reflecting the rise of molecular biological approaches.

At his retirement from the editorship

Konrad Bloch Konrad Emil Bloch (; 21 January 1912 – 15 October 2000) was a German Americans, German-American biochemist. Bloch received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1964 (joint with Feodor Lynen) for discoveries concerning the mechanism and ...

published a tribute to him in the Journal.

Teaching and students

He was professor at the Harvard University. He inspired medical student

Alexander Rich 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 ...

to pursue an academic career.

Historical interests

Contributing to the

history of molecular biology The history of molecular biology begins in the 1930s with the convergence of various, previously distinct biological and physical disciplines: biochemistry, genetics, microbiology, virology and physics. With the hope of understanding life at its m ...

in the period from 1898 to 1940, Edsall wrote on "development of the

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...

of proteins".

Personal history

John T. Edsall married Margaret Dunham of Scarsdale, NY, May 1, 1929, in Scarsdale. They had three sons: James Lawrence Dunham Edsall (known always as Lawrence), June 6, 1930 - July 8, 1978; David T. Edsall, born 1933, and Nicholas C. Edsall, born 1936. Margaret D. Edsall was born in New York, NY, June 9, 1902, and died May 19, 1987. They lived most of their married life in Cambridge, MA.

References

External links

Harvard University Gazette tribute to Edsallwww.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cfs2/john_edsall.phpNational Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edsall, John Tileston American biochemists American molecular biologists Harvard University faculty 1902 births 2002 deaths Harvard College alumni Scientists from Philadelphia Journal of Biological Chemistry editors Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society