Walter Bruno Gratzer (20 September 1932 – 20 October 2021) was a German-born British biophysical chemist and science writer.

Career

Gratzer was born in a Jewish hospital in Breslau (now Wrocław). Gratzer and his parents escaped Nazi persecution by escaping to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and the United Kingdom in 1939. He lived in

Belsize Park Belsize Park is a residential area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, in the Inner London, inner North West London, north-west of London, England. The residential streets are lined with Georgian and Victorian villas and mews houses. ...

and then

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

. He won a scholarship to

Cheltenham grammar school Pate's Grammar School is a grammar school with Academy (English school), academy status in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. It caters for pupils aged 11 to 18. The school was founded with a fund bestowed to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, ...

. Gratzer received his BA in chemistry in 1954 and his MA in 1958 from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, and his PhD in 1960 from the

National Institute for Medical Research The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC); In 2016, the NIMR became part of the new F ...

. He was a research fellow 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 ...

from 1960 to 1963, a lecturer in biophysics at King's from 1963 to 1966, and worked at the Medical Research Council from 1966 to 1996. He was professor of biophysical chemistry at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

and an author and reviewer of popular science. He was the first ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' news correspondent appointed by editor

John Maddox Sir John Royden Maddox, FRS (27 November 1925 – 12 April 2009) was a Welsh theoretical chemist, physicist, and science writer. He was an editor of ''Nature'' for 22 years, from 1966 to 1973 and 1980 to 1995. Education and early life Jo ...

. Oliver Sacks of ''Nature'' writes that his reviews have high literary quality and show knowledge of a wide range of topics.Sacks, Oliver
"Bringing scientists to life"
''

'' 419: 786, 24 October 2002, accessed 10 November 2010. . Gratzer was a friend of

James D. Watson James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper in ''Nature'' proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Wats ...

, and wrote the introduction and afterword of his ''A Passion for DNA''. He died in London on 20 October 2021.

Publications

Books

* ''The Longman Literary Companion to Science'' (1989) (editor) * ''A Bedside Nature: Genius and Eccentricity in Science 1869–1953'' (1996) * ''The Undergrowth of Science: Delusion, Self-Deception and Human Frailty'' (2000)
Google Books
* ''Eurekas and Euphorias: The Oxford Book of Scientific Anecdotes'' (2002)

004 004, 0O4, O04, OO4 may refer to: * 004, fictional British 00 Agent * 0O4, Corning Municipal Airport (California) * O04, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation * Abdul Haq Wasiq, Guantanamo detainee 004 * Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine * La ...

br>Google Books
* ''Terrors of the Table: The Curious History of Nutrition'' (2005)

007 The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

br>Google Books
* ''Giant Molecules: From Nylon to Nanotubes'' (2009)
Google Books
Jones, Richard

''

'' 464: 354, 18 March 2010, accessed 10 November 2010. .

Reviews

Review
of ''A Short History of Cardiology'' by Peter Fleming, ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...

'' 19 (13): 24, 3 July 1997, accessed 7 November 2010.
"''Per ardua ad'': Stockholm"
''

'' 393: 640641, 18 June 1998, accessed 10 November 2010. .
"Now you see it, now you don't"
''

'' 408: 24–25, 2 November 2000, accessed 10 November 2010. .
"A stranger in a strange land"
''

'' 424: 725, 14 August 2003, accessed 10 November 2010. .

Articles

* * Gratzer, Walter
"Obituary: Maurice Wilkins (1916–2004)"
''

'' 431: 922, 21 October 2004, accessed 7 November 2010. * Gratzer, Walter
"Nature — The Maddox Years"
''

'', accessed 7 November 2010. . * Gratzer, Walter
"Embryologist in Eden, a review of ''The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom'' by Simon Winchester (2008), Harper Collins, New York "
''

The FASEB Journal ''The FASEB Journal'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal related to experimental biology. The journal was established in 1987 and has been published since 2020 by Wiley on behalf of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biolo ...

'' 22 (10): 3415–3416, 1 October 2008, accessed 7 November 2010. by

WebCite WebCite is an intermittently available archive site, originally designed to digitally preserve scientific and educationally important material on the web by taking snapshots of Internet contents as they existed at the time when a blogger or ...

on 7 November 2010. . * Gratzer, Walter. , ''ASBMB Today'', December 2009, pp. 15–17, accessed 7 November 2010. by

on 7 November 2010. See HTML versio
here
on 7 November 2010.

Academic papers

* Pinder, JC ''et al.'
"Actomyosin motor in the merozoite of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum: implications for red cell invasion"
''

Journal of Cell Science The ''Journal of Cell Science'' (formerly the ''Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of cell biology. The journal is published by The Company of Biologists. The journal is partnered with P ...

'' 111 (13): 1831–1839, 1998, accessed 10 November 2010.

References

External links

Webpage at King's College London

Reviews at the ''London Review of Books''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gratzer, Walter 1932 births 2021 deaths 20th-century British biologists 21st-century British biologists Academics of King's College London Alumni of the University of Oxford British chemists British male journalists British science writers