Alexander George Ogston

Alexander George Ogston (born January 30, 1911 in Bombay , † June 29, 1996 ) was an English biochemist and physical chemist.

Ogston attended Eton College and graduated from Balliol College, Oxford University in 1933. He then conducted research on blood proteins at London Hospital and received his doctorate in Oxford in 1937. In 1937 he became a Fellow of Balliol College and a tutor in physical chemistry, in 1938 a demonstrator and in 1955 a reader in biochemistry. In 1959 he became professor of physical biochemistry at the Australian National University (John Curtin School of Medical Research). In 1970 he went back to Oxford as President of Trinity College. In 1978 he retired and became an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College (and since 1969 he was an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College).

He applied methods of physical chemistry to biological systems and is known for his concept of three point attachment (TPA) in stereochemistry. He developed the concept in 1948 while analyzing the Krebs cycle in response to the question of how an enzyme can differentiate between enantiomers, because that is exactly what happened at different points in the cycle. Ogston provided a simple geometric example of how an enzyme only works in three places Had contact with the substrate that could accomplish. The concept was accepted immediately and described by Hans Adolf Krebs in his 1949 Harvey Lecture as a solution to the problem of generating optically active substances in biological systems. In 1958 he published the Ogston sieve theory on gel electrophoresis .

With his student JP Johnston, he solved a problem that arose when centrifuging blood proteins and was then used in other areas (Johnston-Ogston effect)

In 1986 he received the Davy Medal . He was a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1955 and of the Australian Academy of Science since 1962 . In 1977 he received an honorary doctorate in Uppsala.

1955 to 1959 he was editor of the Biochemical Journal.

In 1934 he married Elizabeth Wicksteed and had a son and three daughters.

literature

O. Smithies: Alexander George Ogston. 30 January 1911-29 June 1996: Elected FRS 1955. In: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 45, 1999, p. 349, doi : 10.1098 / rsbm.1999.0024 .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ AG Ogston: The spaces in a uniform random suspension of fibers. In: Transactions of the Faraday Society. Vol. 54, 1958, ISSN 0014-7672 , pp. 1754-1757, doi : 10.1039 / TF9585401754 .

personal data
SURNAME	Ogston, Alexander George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English biochemist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 30, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bombay
DATE OF DEATH	June 29, 1996

[1] AG Ogston: The spaces in a uniform random suspension of fibers. In: Transactions of the Faraday Society. Vol. 54, 1958, ISSN 0014-7672 , pp. 1754-1757, doi : 10.1039 / TF9585401754 .