| Authorised form of name | Perutz; Max Ferdinand (1914 - 2002) |
| Surname | Perutz |
| Forenames | Max Ferdinand |
| Dates | 1914 - 2002 |
| Nationality | British |
| Dates and places | Burial: Ascension Burial Ground, Cambridge. Headstone refers to Hugo Perutz 1878-1956, Dely Perutz 1883-1968, Max Perutz FRS 1914-2002, and Gisela Perutz 1915-2005 |
| Activity | Research field:
Molecular biology, haemoglobin
Education:
Theresianum (grammar school), Vienna; University of Vienna
Career:
Research under J D Bernal (FRS 1937), Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (1937); Assistant to Sir Lawrence Bragg (FRS 1921), Cavendish Laboratory; Interned as an "enemy alien,"during WW2 released to work for the military; ICI Fellow (1945-1947); Head of MRC Unit for the Study of Molecular Structure of Biological Systems (1947-1957); Reader in Chemistry, Davy Faraday Research Laboratory, Royal Institution, London (1954-1958); Director, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge (1957-1979,), Chairman (1967); Honorary Fellow, Peterhouse, Cambridge (1962); won Nobel Prize jointly with Sir John Kendrew (FRS 1960); Chairman, European Molecular Biology Organisation (1963-1969); Fullerian Professor of Physiology, Davy Faraday Laboratory, Royal Institution (1973-1979);
With Francois Jacob, Pieter Van Dijk and Torten Wiesel became a founding member of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (1993), with the purpose of raising the consciousness of academies around the world about the need to defend fellow scientists and scholars who became victims of severe repression for having exercised those rights promulgated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The organisation put on the Max Perutz Memorial Lecture on Thursday, 19 May 2005 at the Royal Society Wellcome Trust Lecture Hall entitled 'The Archimedean Lever: Right in the Face of Night' by Professor Sari Nusseibeh, Presient. Al-Quds University, East Jerusalem
Honours:
CBE 1963; CH 1975; OM 1988
Memberships:
Millennium FRSC (2000) |
| Royal Society activity | Membership:
Fellow
Election Date:
18/03/1954
Medals/Prizes:
Royal Medal 1971; Copley Medal 1979; Nobel Prize (Chemistry) 1962
Lectures:
Croonian 1968; Humphry Davy 1988; Medawar 1992 |
| Relationships | Family were textile manufacturers; married (1942) Gisela Peiser; one son, one daughter |
| Sources | Sources:
Obituaries in The Times, The Independent, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian all 07 February 2002; Science vol 295, 29 March 2002, p2382-2383
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2004 vol 50 pp 227-256, plate, by D M Blow
References:
Sir John Meurig Thomas, 'Peterhouse, the Royal Society and molecular biology' in NR 2000 vol 54 pp 369-385
R Holliday, 'The early years of molecular biology: personal recollections' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 195-208
A Cook, 'Report. Migrants to The Royal Society, 1930-1940' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 303-304
J M Thomas 'Max Perutz: Chemist, Molecular Biologist, Human Rights Activist' in NR 2006 vol 60 pp59-67 |
| Royal Society code | NA3075 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| IM/003528 | Perutz, Max Ferdinand | nd |
| GLB/65/80/94 | Max Perutz, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University Postgraduate Medical School, Cambridge to Brown | 5 October 1967 |
| GLB/65/80/95 | Brown to Max Perutz, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University Postgraduate Medical School, Cambridge | 12 October 1967 |
| PB/2/2/10/1/3 | Correspondence on V-particles, January-October 1950 | January-October 1950 |
| PB/1/33/4/6 | President of the Royal Society | 1965 |
| A/0211 | Perutz, Max | 1989 |
| IM/003527 | Perutz, Max Ferdinand | 16 May 1968 |
| RR/71/232 | Referee's report by Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, on a paper 'An X-ray study of horse methaemoglobin. II' by Max Ferdinand Perutz | 1948 |
| RR/66/226 | Referee's report by Geoffrey Ingram Taylor, on a paper 'A crystallographic investigation of glacier structure and the mechanism of glacier flow' by Max Ferdinand Perutz and Gerald Seligman | 4 April 1939 |
| RR/66/227 | Second referee's report by Geoffrey Ingram Taylor, on a paper 'A crystallographic investigation of glacier structure and the mechanism of glacier flow' by Max Ferdinand Perutz and Gerald Seligman | [June 1939] |
| RR/69/69 | Referee's report by Max Ferdinand Perutz, on a paper 'Studies on silk proteins I. The properties and constitution of fibroin. The conversion of fibroin into a water-soluble form and its bearing on the phenomenon of denaturation' by D Coleman and F O Howitt | 3 May 1945 |
| RR/70/39 | Referee's report by John Monteath Robertson, on a paper 'An X-ray study of horse methaemoglobin. I' by Joy Boyes-Watson, Edna Davidson and Max Ferdinand Perutz | 1947 |
| RR/70/38 | Referee's report by William Thomas Astbury, on a paper 'An X-ray study of horse methaemoglobin. I' by Joy Boyes-Watson, Edna Davidson and Max Ferdinand Perutz | 1947 |
| RR/71/166 | Referee's report by John Monteath Robertson, on a paper 'A comparative X-ray study of foetal and adult sheep haemoglobins' by John Cowdery Kendrew and Max Ferdinand Perutz | 10 March 1948 |
| RR/71/165 | Referee's report by William Thomas Astbury, on a paper 'A comparative X-ray study of foetal and adult sheep haemoglobins' by John Cowdery Kendrew and Max Ferdinand Perutz | [1948] |
| RR/71/231 | Referee's report by William Thomas Astbury, on a paper 'An X-ray study of horse methaemoglobin. II' by Max Ferdinand Perutz | 1948 |
| TG/1/2/4 | Letter from Thomas Gold to Dr Max Perutz, Medical Research Council, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge | 2 July 1964 |
| EC/1954/14 | Perutz, Max Ferdinand: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |