Hans Kornberg 4388959 221513540 2008-06-24T20:56:08Z The Sage of Stamford 6591525 Professor Sir '''Hans Leo Kornberg''', [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (born [[14 January]] [[1928]]) is a [[Great Britain|British]] [[biochemist]]. ==Early Life, Education and Career== Kornberg was born in [[1928]] in [[Germany]] of [[Jewish]] parents. In [[1939]] he left [[Nazi Germany]] (although his parents could not), and moved to the care of an uncle in [[Yorkshire]]. Initially he went to a school for German [[refugees]], but later to a private school and [[Wakefield]] [[Grammar School]]. On leaving school he became a junior laboratory technician for [[Hans Adolf Krebs|Dr Hans Krebs]] at the [[University of Sheffield]] who encouraged him to study further and apply for a scholarship at the same university. He graduated with a [[BSc]] Honours in [[Chemistry]] in [[1949]]. His interest had now moved to [[biochemistry]] and he studied in the Faculty of [[Medicine]], receiving a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] degree in [[1953]] for a thesis entitled ''Studies on gastric [[urease]]''. A Commonwealth Fund Exchange Fellowship of the Harkness Foundation enabled him to travel to the USA and work in several biochemistry laboratories. He then returned to the UK where his mentor [[Hans Adolf Krebs|Hans Krebs]] had moved to [[Oxford University]] and offered him a post there. This partnership produced a paper in [[Nature]] <ref>H. L. Kornberg & H. A Krebs (1957) ''Nature'' 179, 988 - 991 Synthesis of Cell Constituents from C2-Units by a Modified Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle</ref> and a joint book <ref>H. A. Krebs & H. L. Kornberg (1957) ''Energy Transformations in Living Matter'' Springer (Berlin)</ref> which was the first major publication on [[biological thermodynamics]]. In [[1960]] he was appointed to the first Chair in Biochemistry at the [[University of Leicester]], which he held until [[1975]] when he was elected to the [[Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry|Sir William Dunn Chair of Biochemistry]] at the [[University of Cambridge]]. From [[1982]] to [[1995]] he was Master of [[Christ's College, Cambridge]]. In [[1995]] he left the Cambridge chair to take up a position as a Professor of Biology at [[Boston University]], USA, where he teaches biochemistry. His major research area is the nature and regulation of [[carbohydrate]] transport in [[micro-organism]]s. ==Honours and Awards== He was elected to the [[Royal Society]] in 1965 and the same year awarded the Colworth Medal of The [[Biochemical Society]]. In 1973 he was awarded the Warburg Medal of the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In [[1978]] he was knighted for "services to science". He has been awarded 11 honorary doctorates and has been elected into membership of: *The [[United States National Academy of Sciences]] *The [[German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina|German Academy of Sciences "Leopoldina"]] *The [[Accademia dei Lincei|Italian National Academy of Sciences "Lincei"]] *The [[American Philosophical Society]] *The [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] *The American Society of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Biology *The Japanese Biochemical Society *[[Phi Beta Kappa Society]] ==Other Information== While at Oxford, he also met and married his first wife, Monica, a [[radiographer]]; she died in 1989. In [[1991]] he married Donna Haber. They live in [[Brookline]] [[Massachusetts]]. Professor Kornberg is a Distinguished Supporter of the [[British Humanist Association]]. He was editor of the Sheffield University [[RAG (student society)#Rag Mag|Rag Magazine]] [[Twikker]] in 1947. He was President and a keen supporter of the Boat Club while he was Master of [[Christ's College, Cambridge]]: the Boat Club has one boat ''Sir Hans'' named after him, and another ''Lady K'' after his wife. == Sources == *[http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentViewArticle.asp?article=1162 British Humanist Society Distinguished Supporters] * [[Jewish Year Book]], 2005, p.214: List of Jewish Fellows of the [[Royal Society]] *[http://www.filmandsound.ac.uk/collections/records/0028-0000-2466-0000-0-0000-0000-0.html Professor Sir Hans Kornberg FRS in Conversation with Sir James Baddiley FRS October 1990] *[http://www.bu.edu/biology/Faculty_Staff/hlk.html Current research interests (Boston University Biology Department)] *[http://www.bu.edu/uni/faculty/profiles/kornberg.html Sir Hans Kornberg (Boston University Biology Department)] * {{cite journal |author=Kornberg HL |title=Memoirs of a biochemical hod carrier |journal=J Biol Chem |volume=278 |issue=12 |pages=9993–10001 |year=2003 |pmid=12556462 |url=http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/278/12/9993 |doi=10.1074/jbc.X200008200}} *University of Sheffield Library: thesis collection ==References== <references/> {{start box}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box|title=Professor of Biochemistry, University of Leicester|years=[[1960]] - [[1975]]|before=New position|after=}} {{succession box|title=[[Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry]], [[Cambridge University]]|years=[[1975]] - [[1995]]|before=[[Frank George Young]]|after=[[Tom Blundell]]}} {{succession box|title=Master of [[Christ's College, Cambridge]]|years=[[1982]] - [[1995]]|before=[[John H. Plumb|Jack Plumb]]|after=[[Alan Munro]]}} {{end box}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kornberg, Hans}} [[Category:1928 births]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:British biologists]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:British humanists]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Sheffield]] [[Category:British Jews]] [[Category:German Jews]] [[Category:Jewish scientists]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Leicester]] [[Category:Masters of Christ's College, Cambridge]] [[Category:Living people]] [[ja:ハンス・コーンバーグ]] [[pt:Hans Kornberg]]