Hans Leo Kornberg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Hans Leo Kornberg (2010)

Sir Hans Leo Kornberg , FRS (born January 14, 1928 in Herford - † December 16, 2019 in Falmouth , Massachusetts ) was a British - American biochemist of German descent .

biography

Kornberg was born in 1928 as the son of his Jewish parents Max (1889-1943) and Grete (1890-1928, born in Silver Creek) in Herford, lived several years in Bad Salzuflen and emigrated after the seizure of power of the NSDAP in 1939 to his uncle in Yorkshire in the UK . His parents stayed behind in Germany because the outbreak of World War II prevented them from leaving. They were deported to the Warsaw ghetto in 1942. The father was shot in 1943 in the Trawniki forced labor camp . The mother died shortly after the delivery, his stepmother, Selma Kornberg (* 1886, née Nathan) was killed in the Treblinka extermination camp .

After his school education at the School for German Refugees (German: "School for German Refugees") and at the Wakefield Grammar School , he studied at the University of Sheffield . After completing his doctorate , he went to the USA and worked at Yale University and the University of New York between 1953 and 1955 .

After returning to England in 1955 he became a member of the research group for metabolism founded by Hans Adolf Krebs at the Medical Research Council Cell Metabolism Research Unit at the University of Oxford .

Kornberg has worked significantly in the field of micro-organic metabolism and was best known for his discovery of the glyoxylate cycle , which is also known as the Krebs-Kornberg cycle and the Krebs-Kornberg-Beevers cycle after its other discoverers, Hans Adolf Krebs and Harry Beevers . This explains how bacteria grow into fatty acids and how seedlings convert fats into carbohydrates during germination .

In 1960 Kornberg first became a professor in the newly created chair of biochemistry at the University of Leicester . For his scientific achievements he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1965 and received several other honors and prizes, such as the Leeuwenhoek Medal of the Royal Society in 1972 and the Otto Warburg Medal of the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1973 . He was also a member of several scientific councils.

In 1975 he accepted a position as professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge . In addition, he was chairman of the Royal Commission on Pollution ( Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution ) and member of the Foundation Board (Trustee) of the Suffield Foundation and the Wellcome Trust .

In 1978 he was beaten by Queen Elizabeth II to the Knight Bachelor and since then has had the suffix "Sir". In 1982 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina , and in 1987 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . He was a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (1986), a full member of the Academia Europaea (1989) and a foreign member of the American Philosophical Society (1993) and the Accademia dei Lincei (1997). In 1995 he followed the call to professor of biology at Boston University . Kornberg received eleven honorary doctorates.

Private life

While at Oxford he also met his first wife, Monica King, a radiologist, and married her in 1956. With her he had two sons and two daughters. Monica King died in 1989. His granddaughter is the singer SuRie , who represented the United Kingdom in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. In 1991 he married Donna Haber. They lived in Brookline, Massachusetts.

He was a member of the Advisory Board for the Science and Technology Campaign.

Sir Hans Kornberg died on December 16, 2019 at the age of 91.

literature

  • Chambers Biographical Dictionary , Edinburgh 2002, p. 867, ISBN 0-550-10051-2
  • Franz Meyer for Bad Salzuflen City Archives (Ed.): Traces of Jewish Life - City Tours in Bad Salzuflen and Schötmar; Volume 7 of the "Contributions to the History of the City of Bad Salzuflen" . 1st edition. Publishing house of the Heimat- und Beautification Association Bad Salzuflen e. V., Bad Salzuflen 2010, ISBN 978-3-941726-11-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Boston University CURRICULUM VITAE: Hans Kornberg
  2. ↑ Sir Hans Leo Kornberg 1928 ∼ 2019. Chapman Family Funeral Homes, accessed on December 19, 2019 (English).
  3. ↑ One of the last contemporary witnesses: Sir Hans Kornberg was received in the historic town hall , Lippe aktuell, August 15, 2012
  4. ↑ a b Gritta Odenthal: One of the last contemporary witnesses , in Lippe currently on August 15, 2012
  5. ↑ Franz Meyer for Bad Salzuflen City Archives (ed.): Traces of Jewish Life - City Tours in Bad Salzuflen and Schötmar; Volume 7 of the "Contributions to the History of the City of Bad Salzuflen" . 1st edition. Publishing house of the Heimat- und Beautification Association Bad Salzuflen e. V., Bad Salzuflen 2010, ISBN 978-3-941726-11-6 .
  6. ↑ Kornberg, HL. and cancer, HA. (1957): Synthesis of cell constituents from C2 units by a modified tricarboxylic acid cycle . In: Nature 179 (4568); 988-991; PMID 13430766 ; doi: 10.1038 / 179988a0
  7. ↑ Kornberg, HL. and Beevers, H. (1957): The glyoxylate cycle as a stage in the conversion of fat to carbohydrate in castor beans . In: Biochim Biophys Acta 26 (3); 531-537; PMID 13499412
  8. ^ Winner of the Otto Warburg Medal
  9. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Sir Hans Kornberg (with picture and CV) at the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina , accessed on July 17, 2016.
  10. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter K. (PDF; 670 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved January 18, 2018 .
  11. ^ Member Directory: Hans Kornberg. National Academy of Sciences, accessed January 18, 2018 .
  12. ^ Directory of members: Hans Kornberg. Academia Europaea, accessed January 18, 2018 (English, with biographical and other information).
  13. ↑ Jennifer Scott: Remembering Sir Hans Kornberg. Boston University, Department of Biology, December 18, 2019, accessed December 19, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b c Professor Sir Hans Kornberg, German-born biochemist and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge who did pioneering research into how bacteria work - obituary , telegraph.co.uk/, December 18, 2019
  15. ↑ SuRie: Could the 2018 UK Eurovision entry be our best hope in years? , telegraph.co.uk, May 9, 2018
  16. ^ Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering . Retrieved February 11, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Kornberg, Hans Leo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kornberg, Sir Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-British biochemist
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Herford
DATE OF DEATH 16th December 2019
Place of death Falmouth , Massachusetts