Michael Rossmann
4421662
215548210
2008-05-28T18:10:59Z
DOI bot
6652755
Citation maintenance. You can [[WP:DOI|use this bot]] yourself! Please [[User:DOI_bot/bugs|report any bugs]].
{{Otheruses4 | the microbiologist| the boxer | Mike Rossman}}
{{Infobox_Celebrity
| image = Replace this image male.svg <!-- Only freely-licensed images may be used to depict living people. See [[WP:NONFREE]]. -->
| image_size = 150px |
| name = Michael Rossmann
| birth_date = 1930
| birth_place = [[Frankfurt, Germany]]
| occupation = Biophysicist, professor at [[Purdue University]], mapped atomic structure of a human [[common cold]] virus, discovered [[Rossmann fold]]
}}
'''Michael G. Rossmann''' (born [[1930]]) is a [[German-American]] physicist, microbiologist, and Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at [[Purdue University]] who led a team of researchers to be the first to map the structure of a human [[common cold]] virus to an atomic level. He also discovered the [[Rossmann fold]] protein motif.
== Education ==
Born in [[Frankfurt, Germany]], Michael Rossmann studied physics and mathematics at the [[University of London]], where he received BSc and MSc degrees. He moved to [[Glasgow]] in 1953 where he taught physics in the technical college and received his Ph.D. in chemical crystallography in [[1956]]. He attributes his initial interest in [[crystallography]] to [[Kathleen Lonsdale]], whom he heard speak as a schoolboy.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=21|pages=447-484|year=1976}}</ref>.
Michael Rossmann began his career as a crystallographer when he became a student of J. Monteath Robertson at the [[University of Glasgow]]. The title of his thesis was "A Study of Some Organic Crystal Structures".
In 1956 he and his family moved to the [[University of Minnesota]] where he worked for two years with Professor [[William Lipscomb]], publishing several papers on the structure of [[terpenoid]]s and writing computer programs for analysing structures. He returned to England and to the [[University of Cambridge]] in 1958, where he worked with [[Max Perutz]] on the structure of [[haemoglobin]]. He went to Purdue in 1964.
== Career ==
He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the [[University of Minnesota]] with Professor [[William Lipscomb]] and as research associate at the [[Medical Research Council (UK)|MRC]] [[Laboratory of Molecular Biology]] in [[Cambridge, England]] , where he worked with [[Max Perutz]] on the structure of [[haemoglobin]]. In 1964, he joined the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue as an associate professor and has been there since.
Michael Rossmann directs the [[X-ray crystallography]] laboratory at Purdue University. He became full professor in 1967 and since 1978 has held the chair of Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at the university. He also holds joint appointment in the department of biochemistry and adjunct positions in [[Cornell University]]'s Division of Biological Sciences and in [[Indiana University]]'s school of medicine.<ref>{{cite web |title= Michael Rossmann CV on Purdue University's web site | url=http://bilbo.bio.purdue.edu/~viruswww/Rossmann_home/people/resume/mr-resume.php}}</ref>
In 1973 Rossman published the decription of the [[Rossman fold]], a [[nucleotide]] binding motif found in [[enzyme]]s such as [[dehydrogenase]]s or kinases that bind molecules such as [[adenosine triphosphate]] or [[nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = Rao S, Rossmann M | title = Comparison of super-secondary structures in proteins | journal = J Mol Biol | volume = 76 | issue = 2 | pages = 241–56 | year = 1973 | pmid = 4737475 | doi = 10.1016/0022-2836(73)90388-4}}</ref>
In 1985, he published his team's mapping, using X-ray crystallography, of a human common cold virus in the journal [[Nature (journal) | Nature]]<ref>{{cite journal | author = Rossmann, M.G. et al. | year = 1985 | title = Structure of a human common cold virus and functional relationship to other picornaviruses | journal = Nature | volume = 317 | pages = 145–153 | doi = 10.1038/317145a0 }}</ref>. The breakthrough nature of this result was such that the [[National Science Foundation]], which provided partial funding for the research, saw fit to organize a press conference, and the news travelled in the general press.<ref>{{cite news | title=Scientists map out common cold bug | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9B05E3D8133BF931A2575AC0A963948260 | work=The New York Times | date=[[1985-09-12]] | accessdate=2006-09-12}}</ref>
==Awards and Honors==
Among other honors, Michael Rossmann has been elected Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1978, Member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] in 1984, Foreign Member of the [[Royal Society of London]] in 1996, and Fellow of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] in 1999.
He was awarded honorary doctorates by the [[University of Uppsala]], Sweden; the [[University of Strasbourg]], France; [[Vrije Universiteit Brussel]], Belgium; [[University of Glasgow]], Scotland; [[University of York]], England; Institut Armand-Frappier, [[Université du Québec | University of Québec]], Canada.
His own employer awarded him with the Purdue University Medal of Honor in 1995.
==References==
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossmann, Michael}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Purdue University]]
[[Category:People from Frankfurt]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:American physicists]]
[[Category:Foreign Members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Jewish scientists]]
[[Category:German Jews]]
[[Category:Jewish American scientists]]
[[Category:Microbiologists]]
[[Category:American physicists]]