Photo: Christopher Michel, 2022 — Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kurt Wüthrich
born 1938 · Switzerland · Born 1900–1939
Nobel Chemistry 2002
Swiss biophysicist who turned NMR spectroscopy into a tool for solving the three-dimensional structures of proteins in solution.
Nobel-winning work
Prized for developing NMR spectroscopy to determine 3D structures of biological macromolecules in solution. He devised multidimensional NMR experiments (NOESY, COSY) and assignment strategies that convert proton distance constraints into full protein folds, letting structures be solved in near-physiological conditions rather than crystals.
Fields
Related topics
Amino acids, peptides, protein structure
Amino acids join through peptide bonds into chains that fold into proteins; four levels of structure explain how sequence determines shape and function.
Fluorescence, NMR spectroscopy
Fluorescence reports excited-state emission; NMR reports nuclei in distinct magnetic and chemical environments.