| Citation | Dr. Simmons is distinguished for his several contributions to our understanding of muscular contraction. With A.F. Huxley he pioneered quantitative fast-response studies of muscle mechanics. Their interpretation of the transients in terms of movements of the muscle cross-bridge heads, attachments and detachments of proteins during the cross-bridge cycle and multiplicity of attached states has played a dominant role in our thinking about muscle contraction for almost two decades. In collaboration with H.E. Huxley he showed striking changes during contraction. By development and application of the skinned (permeabilized) muscle fibre preparation, Dr. Simmons was able to control the chemical environment during contraction and so relate the energetics and kinetics of elementary steps during actomyosin ATPase activity with mechanical transients. Dr. Simmons' work has been marked by significant technical achievements which have set new standards in experimentation and have had, in their application, a broad impact on muscle research. |