Sir Hans Leo Kornberg, FRS (14 January 1928 – 16 December 2019) was a British-American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of "biological ch ...

. He was

Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry The Sir William Dunn Professorship of Biochemistry is the senior professorship in biochemistry at the University of Cambridge. The position was established in 1914 by the trustees of the will of Sir William Dunn, banker, merchant and philanthropist ...

in the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

from 1975 to 1995, and

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

from 1982 to 1995.

Early life and education

Kornberg was born in 1928 in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

from

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents, Max Kornberg (1889–1943) and Selma (née Nathan; 1886–1943) who was murdered. In 1939 he left

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

(although his parents could not), and moved to the care of an uncle in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. Initially he went to a school for German

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

, but later to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield. On leaving school he became a junior laboratory technician for

Hans Adolf Krebs Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, FRS (, ; 25 August 1900 – 22 November 1981) was a German-born British biologist, physician and biochemist. He was a pioneer scientist in the study of cellular respiration, a biochemical process in living cells that ex ...

at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

who encouraged him to study further and apply for a scholarship at the same university. He graduated with a BSc Honours in

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

in 1949. His interest moved to

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

and he studied in the Faculty of Medicine, receiving a PhD degree in 1953 on the studies on

urease Ureases (), functionally, belong to the superfamily of amidohydrolases and phosphotriesterases. Ureases are found in numerous bacteria, fungi, algae, plants, and some invertebrates, as well as in soils, as a soil enzyme. They are nickel-contai ...

in mammalian gastric mucosa.

Career

After receiving

Commonwealth Fund Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several coun ...

and working for two years in

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

and

Public Health Research Institute The Public Health Research Institute (PHRI) was founded in 1942 by New York City's mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, who appointed David M. Heyman to lead it as an independent not-for-profit research organization. In the late 1980s it was referred ...

in USA, he then returned to the UK where his mentor Hans Krebs had moved to

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and offered him a post there. This partnership produced a paper in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', concerning their discovery of the

glyoxylate cycle The glyoxylate cycle, a variation of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, is an anabolic pathway occurring in plants, bacteria, protists, and fungi. The glyoxylate cycle centers on the conversion of acetyl-CoA to succinate for the synthesis of carbohydrat ...

, and also a joint book entitled ''Energy Transformations in Living Matter'' on 1957. In 1960, he was appointed to the first Chair in Biochemistry at the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_lab ...

, which he held until 1975. Later, he was elected as Sir William Dunn Chair of Biochemistry at the

. Hans became a lecturer at

Worcester College Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

between 1958 and 1961 and he was also the first person who received The Biochemical Society’s annual

Colworth Medal The Colworth Medal is awarded annually by the Biochemical Society to an outstanding research biochemist under the age of 35 and working mainly in the United Kingdom. The award is one of the most prestigious recognitions for young scientists in the ...

on 1963. He received Christ’s Fellowship in 1975 and was elected as the 34th Master of the

from 1982 to 1995. In 1995, he retired to take up a position as a Professor of Biology at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

, USA, where he taught biochemistry.

Honours and awards

He was elected to the

Fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher educatio ...

of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1965 and the same year awarded the Colworth Medal of The

Biochemical Society The Biochemical Society is a learned society in the United Kingdom in the field of biochemistry, including all the cellular and molecular biosciences. Structure It currently has around 7000 members, two-thirds in the UK. It is affiliated with t ...

. In 1973, he was awarded the

Otto Warburg Medal The Otto Warburg Medal is awarded annually by the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (German: ''Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie'' or ''GBM'') to honour scientists who have contributed important work in the field ...

of the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In the 1978 Queen's Birthday Honours List he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

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 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the N ...

*The German Academy of Sciences "Leopoldina" *The Italian National Academy of Sciences "Lincei" *The

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

*The

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

*The American Society of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Biology *The Japanese Biochemical Society *

Phi Beta Kappa Society The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

and Honorary Fellowship of *The Biochemical Society (UK) *The Royal Society of Biology *Brasenose College (Oxford) *Worcester College (Oxford) *Wolfson College (Cambridge) *The Foulkes Foundation (London)

Personal life

While at Oxford, he also met and married his first wife in 1956, Monica King, and had four children from their marriage: Julia, Rachel, Jonathan and Simon. Monica died in 1989. In 1991, he married Donna Haber. Sir Hans Kornberg died on December 16, 2019.

References

External links

British Humanist Society Distinguished Supporters
*

Jewish Year Book The ''Jewish Year Book'' is an almanac targeted at the Jewish community in the United Kingdom. It has been published every year since 1896 and is currently published by Vallentine Mitchell in association with ''The Jewish Chronicle'' and is edit ...

, 2005, p. 214: List of Jewish Fellows of the

Professor Sir Hans Kornberg FRS in Conversation with Sir James Baddiley FRS October 1990
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070818211720/http://www.bu.edu/uni/faculty/profiles/kornberg.html Sir Hans Kornberg (Boston University Biology Department) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kornberg, Hans 1928 births 2019 deaths Sir William Dunn Professors of Biochemistry Academics of the University of Leicester Alumni of the University of Sheffield Boston University faculty English biochemists English emigrants to the United States English humanists English people of German-Jewish descent Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Jewish scientists Knights Bachelor Masters of Christ's College, Cambridge Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom People educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield People from Herford Presidents of the British Science Association Presidents of the Association for Science Education Presidents of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology