William Allen Eaton is a biophysical chemist who is a NIH Distinguished Investigator, Chief of the Section on Biophysical Chemistry, and Chief of the Laboratory of Chemical Physics at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, one of the 20 Institutes of the United States National Institutes of Health.

Early life and education

Eaton was born and raised in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Like many in his family, he attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

as an undergraduate, majoring in

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and graduating in 1959. He then spent one year in Germany as the first Willy Brandt - University of Pennsylvania exchange student at the Free University Berlin. He entered Penn

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

in the Fall of 1960, but discovered that he was more interested in research, particularly after spending the summer of 1962 carrying out research on protein biosynthesis under the supervision of Sydney Brenner at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, England. He decided to pursue a Ph.D. and became one of Penn's first M.D.-Ph.D. students, working with

Robin Hochstrasser Robin M. Hochstrasser (4 January 1931 – 27 February 2013) was a Scottish-born American chemist. Biography Hochstrasser was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1952 he received his B.S. from Heriot-Watt University and 3 years later got his Ph.D. ...

molecular spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...

of single crystals of heme proteins. He received his M.D. in 1964 and his Ph.D. in 1967. After finishing his Ph.D. research, he was drafted into the military and chose to fulfill his military obligation as a medical officer in the United States Public Health Service, where he could conduct research at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

Research career

Eaton has spent his entire career at the NIH after arriving as a medical officer in the Public Health Service in January 1968, leaving only once for a significant period of time to teach physical chemistry as a Visiting Professor at Harvard for the Spring semester of 1976. In 1972, he was tenured in the then-new Laboratory of Chemical Physics and became its chief in 1986. Eaton's early work at NIH built on his work on heme proteins, focusing mainly on

hemoglobin Hemoglobin (haemoglobin BrE) (from the Greek word αἷμα, ''haîma'' 'blood' + Latin ''globus'' 'ball, sphere' + ''-in'') (), abbreviated Hb or Hgb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein present in red blood cells (erythrocyte ...

and the abnormal aggregation of the mutant form of the protein found in sickle-cell anemia. In the early 1990s, Eaton began to focus on theoretical and experimental studies of

protein folding Protein folding is the physical process by which a protein chain is translated to its native three-dimensional structure, typically a "folded" conformation by which the protein becomes biologically functional. Via an expeditious and reproduci ...

and has been particularly influential in the study of fast-folding proteins and applications of single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy. In addition to research, Eaton is credited for developing the Laboratory of Chemical Physics within the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH into one of the very top biophysics/structural biology departments in the USA. Eaton, as Chief of the Laboratory of Chemical Physics, recruited the legendary theorist, Robert Zwanzig, and scientists such as

Ad Bax Adriaan "Ad" Bax (born 1956) is a Dutch-American molecular biophysicist. He was born in the Netherlands and is the Chief of the Section on Biophysical NMR Spectroscopy at the National Institutes of Health. He is known for his work on the methodolo ...

Marius Clore G. Marius Clore MAE, FRSC, FRS is a British-born, Anglo-American molecular biophysicist and structural biologist. He was born in London, U.K. and is a dual US/U.K. Citizen. He is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the R ...

FRS, Angela Gronenborn, Attila Szabo, and

Robert Tycko Robert Tycko is an American biophysicist whose research primarily involves solid state NMR, including the development of new methods and applications to various areas of physics, chemistry, and biology. He is a member of the Laboratory of Chemical ...

all of whom were subsequently elected to the US National Academy of Sciences. As Scientific Director from 1986-2018 of the Intramural AIDS Targeted Anti-viral Program of the Office of the Director, NIH, Eaton directed a program that contributed to the sterling record of NIH scientists in meeting the AIDS crisis, a program that has been a model for new special granting programs within NIH.

Awards and honors

* Elected to 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, and ...

, 1997 * Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

, 1998 * Elected to the

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 Nati ...

, 2006 * Founders Award,

Biophysical Society The Biophysical Society is an international scientific society whose purpose is to lead the development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. Founded in 1958, the Society currently consists of over 7,500 members in academia, government, an ...

, 2006 *

Hans Neurath Hans Neurath (October 29, 1909 – April 2002) was a biochemist, a leader in protein chemistry, and the founding chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle. He was born in Vienna, Austria and received ...

Award, Protein Society, 2009 *

Humboldt Research Award The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

for Senior Scientists, 2009 * Foreign Fellow,

Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...

, Rome (2011) *

Max Delbruck Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

Prize in Biological Physics,

, 2012 * 2014 Distinguished Graduate Award, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvani

* 2015 Penn Chemistry Distinguished Alumni Awar

* Doctor rerum naturalium honoris causa, Free University Berlin (2016) * Laurea Honoris Causa, University of Parma (2018) William Eaton receiving Honorary Laurea from University of Parma
/ref> * Festschrift, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, December 13, 201

* 2019 Henry M. Stratton Medal of the American Society of Hematolog

* 2022 Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society

References

External links

Oral history interview transcript with William Eaton on 12 and 16 July, 2020, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, William American biophysicists Scientists from Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania alumni National Institutes of Health faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Physical Society Living people Year of birth missing (living people)