William Thomas Astbury is
considered to be one of the fathers of molecular and structural biology, and
was born on February 12, 1898 in Longton, England. Once he completed high
school he earned enough scholarships to attend Cambridge. Unfortunately during
his time at Cambridge he had to serve in WWI with the Royal Army Medical Corps,
but was able to go back to finish his degree in physics at Cambridge. In 1928
he earned a lecturer position at the University of Leeds in Textile Physics,
and he finished his career out at Leeds.
Some of Astbury’s most important
contributions include the three papers he wrote on the Structure of Hair, Wool,
and Related Fibers, the study of the Denaturation of Proteins, and his
Diffraction Studies of Bacterial Flagellae. Most people know of Rosalind
Franklin as the person who provided the famous Photo 51, which was an X-ray
diffraction image of DNA, which Watson and Crick used for their discovery of
the DNA double helix. What most people don’t know is that Astbury had actually
taken a very similar picture of DNA a year previously. Astbury began his X-ray
studies with the structure of biological fibers. From his picture he was not
able to accurately predict the proper structure of DNA, but Franklin, Watson,
and Crick used his insights to help with her work. Another major discovery of
his was that he determined that one of the major contributing factors for
stabilizing protein structures was the mainchain-mainchain hydrogen bonds.
A fun fact about William Astbury is
that from his interest in fibers, he had a coat made from protein fibers from
monkey-nuts (peanuts). He did this to explain how basic insights of biological
molecules’ structure can have a major impact on new industries. This is just an
example that showed Astbury’s enthusiasm and imagination for learning and
teaching. He was known for his cheerfulness and easygoing demeanor, which made
him an excellent lecturer.
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