Hugh Huxley
| Hugh Huxley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hugh Esmor Huxley 25 February 1924 Birkenhead, Cheshire, England |
| Died | 25 July 2013 (aged 89) Woods Hole, Massachusetts, US |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Fields | Molecular Biologist |
| Institutions |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology University College London MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Brandeis University |
| Alma mater |
Christ's College, Cambridge Cambridge University (PhD) |
| Doctoral advisor | John Kendrew |
| Known for |
Muscle contraction Muscle proteins |
| Notable awards |
William Bate Hardy Prize (1966) Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1971) Royal Medal (1977) Albert Einstein World Award of Science (1987) Franklin Medal (1990) Copley Medal (1997) |
| Spouse | Frances Huxley |
Hugh Esmor Huxley MBE FRS (25 February 1924 – 25 July 2013) was a British molecular biologist who made important discoveries in the physiology of muscle. He was a graduate in physics from Christ's College, Cambridge. However, his education was interrupted for five years by the Second World War, during which he served in the Royal Air Force. His contribution to development of radar earned him an MBE.
Huxley was the first PhD student of Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Medical Research Council at Cambridge, where he worked on X-ray diffraction studies on muscle fibres. In the 1950s he was one of the first to use electron microscopy to study biological specimens. During his postdoctoral at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he, with fellow researcher Jean Hanson, discovered the underlying principle of muscle movement, popularised as the sliding filament theory in 1954. After 15 years of research, he prosposed the "swinging cross-bridge hypothesis" in 1969, which became modern understanding of the molecular basis of muscle contraction, and much of other cellular motility.
Huxley worked at University College London for seven years, and at Laboratory of Molecular Biology for fifteen years, where he was its Deputy Director from 1979. Between 1987 and 1997, he was professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where he spent the rest of his life as emeritus professor.
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