Tim Hunt
Sir Richard Timothy ( Tim ) Hunt ( born February 19, 1943 in Neston ) is a British biochemist. In 2001 he received together with Paul Nurse and Leland H. Hartwell received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine " for their discoveries concerning the control of the cell cycle." He works for the London Research Institute of Cancer Research UK.
Life
Tim Hunt was born the son of Richard William Hunt, a lecturer for paleography, on 19 February 1943 in Neston, and Kit Hunt near Liverpool. His childhood was marked by the experiences of the post-war period. Food rationing, large coal storage and rescue packages from America left a lasting impression and an early pro- American attitude. Tim Hunt enjoyed early Latin lessons at home, then was sent to the Oxford High School for Girls, before he moved to the Dragon School with 8 years. His interest in biology was awakened by the young German teacher Gerd Hoff summer. As a good student, he referred to himself, also in English, on the other hand bad he was not coping with math, history, Latin and Greek.
At 14, he switched to the Magdalen College, Oxford, in which the science subjects were significantly more heavily weighted. His main interest was first in chemistry and later in biology. Important for Tim Hunt in these years were the lectures at the University of Oxford and the Christmas lectures at the Museum of Oxford. Many excursions and experiments earned him the practical side of science closer. In the fall of 1961 Tim Hunt moved to the Clare College, Cambridge to study natural sciences to become a biochemist with the target.
The scientific career began in 1964 at the Institute of Biochemistry in Cambridge. In the laboratory of Asher Korner Hunt was able to devote to work in areas of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis. By the time he became increasingly interested in the translation of mRNA and later he conducted research together with his former fellow student Tony Hunter on the incorporation of heme into the globin to hemoglobin molecule. From July to October 1966 he spent at the invitation of Irving M. London in New York. After completing his Ph.D. Cambridge in 1968, he went back to New York to London to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. With the support of the staff there, the research made significant progress in the heme biosynthesis. On his return to Cambridge he continued working with his former colleague Richard Jackson and Tony Hunter to topics in tRNA and its regulation.
He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board was founded in December 2010 Upper Austrian think tank Academia Superior.
Awards
1991 was elected to the Royal Society Tim Hunt as a member ( "Fellow" ), which distinguished him in 2006 with the Royal Medal. In the same year 2006 he was knighted. In 2008 he the Keio University awarded an honorary doctorate.