Robert Huber facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Huber
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Robert Huber in 2010
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| Born | 20 February 1937 |
| Nationality | German |
| Citizenship | Germany |
| Alma mater | Technical University Munich |
| Known for | Cyanobacteria Crystallography |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemist |
| Doctoral students | Nediljko Budisa |
| Other notable students | Peter Colman (postdoc) |
Robert Huber (born 20 February 1937) is a German biochemist and a winner of the Nobel Prize. A biochemist studies the chemistry of living things. He is famous for his work on tiny structures inside living cells.
Huber helped figure out the exact shape of a special protein. This protein is found inside the membranes of cells. It is very important for photosynthesis, which is how plants and some bacteria make their own food using sunlight. He used a method called X-ray crystallography to see these tiny shapes.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Robert Huber was born in Munich, Germany, on February 20, 1937. His father, Sebastian, worked at a bank.
He went to school at the Humanistisches Karls-Gymnasium from 1947 to 1956. After that, he studied chemistry at the Technical University of Munich. He earned his diploma in 1960.
He continued his studies there. He focused on using crystallography to understand the structure of organic compounds. These are chemical compounds that contain carbon.
Robert Huber's Career Journey
In 1971, Robert Huber became a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry. His team worked on new ways to use crystallography for studying proteins. Proteins are complex molecules essential for life.
Winning the Nobel Prize
In 1988, Robert Huber won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He shared this big award with Johann Deisenhofer and Hartmut Michel.
They won for their amazing work on a protein found in purple bacteria. This protein is key for photosynthesis in these bacteria. They were the first to make crystals of this protein.
Then, they used X-ray crystallography to discover its exact 3D structure. This was a huge step forward. It gave scientists the first clear look at how photosynthesis works at a very tiny level.
This discovery also helped us understand photosynthesis in other organisms. For example, it helped explain how cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) make food. It also helped explain how chloroplasts in plants do the same thing.
Later Work and Contributions
In 2006, Huber started working part-time at Cardiff University. He helped to develop the study of structural biology there. Structural biology is about understanding the 3D shapes of biological molecules.
Since 2005, he has also been doing research. He works at the Center for Medical Biotechnology at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Robert Huber was also one of the first editors for the Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Robert Huber has received many important awards for his scientific work.
- In 1977, he was given the Otto Warburg Medal.
- In 1988, he received the Nobel Prize, as mentioned before.
- In 1992, he was awarded the Sir Hans Krebs Medal.
He was also chosen as a member of special groups:
- In 1993, he became a member of Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts.
- In 1999, he was made a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in the United Kingdom.
His election certificate to the Royal Society praised his work. It said he built and led the most productive protein crystallography lab in Europe. It also highlighted his many important discoveries about protein structures over 25 years.
For example, he figured out the structure of a protein called trypsin inhibitor. He also studied how enzymes change shape when they work. His work on the photosynthesis protein was especially important.
Personal Life
Robert Huber is married and has four children.
See also
- In Spanish: Robert Huber para niños
Images for kids
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Robert Huber in 2010
