Julian M. Sturtevant
Yale University
August 9, 1908 - August 12, 2005
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Scientific Discipline: Biochemistry Membership Type:
Emeritus
(elected 1973)
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Julian M. Sturtevant was a pioneer in collecting thermodynamic and kinetic data for important biochemical reactions. He obtained a value for the enthalpy change in DNA structural transitions, which are central to the physical theories surrounding DNA structure and function. In addition, he developed refined calorimetric instruments that allowed for accurate heat measurements to be made of protein structural changes, which is vital to understanding protein chemistry. Using these instruments he conducted meticulous work measuring energy transfers during cellular metabolism and the mechanism of action of the various serine enzymes.
Sturtevant graduated from Columbia University in 1927 and earned his PhD at Yale University in 1931. From 1931 to 1943 he taught chemistry at Yale University. In 1943 he was a staff member of the radiation laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and went back to Yale University in 1946 as a professor of chemistry and molecular biophysics and chairman of the department. From 1950 to 1959 he was the associate director of the Sterling chemistry laboratory.
