Biological Studies

Astbury was always interested in biological structures, initially choosing the organic over the inorganic in his first X-ray studies at the Royal Institution. Although he studied fibrous proteins with the aim of their applications in the textile industry in mind, he was always aware of the biological significance of his work. He viewed the science of fibres as equivalent to the science of polymeric chain-molecules, which themselves were the basis of all living things. ‘As a physicist, Astbury accepted the rational order of the universe and was convinced that this concept could be carried over to the realm of living things’ (Olby)

He devoted a significant amount of time to the study of cellulose fibres in plant cell walls, determining their structures with the use of X-ray methods (and later the electron microscope).

X-ray photographs of nucleic acid had first been attempted by Herzog and Jancke (discoverers of the fibre diagram) at the Kaiser Wilhelm-Institut for Chemistry of Fibres, although they found no diffraction pattern. By the mid 1930s, Astbury was regarded as something of an expert in x-ray photographs of fibrous substances. Thus, in 1935 and 1936, J. W. Schmidt sent him purified material from Giessen and by 1938 Astbury had obtained an imperfect fibre diagram of nucleic acid. Although he did not uncover the actual structure of nucleic acid, Bernal believed that he ‘certainly must have the credit for indicating that the nucleic acids were a fruitful subject for X-ray analysis’.

He also examined the flagella on bacteria, finding them to fit in with his k-m-e-f group. He began new methods of research in medicine, including studies of decomposed collagen which contributed to work on rheumatism, and studies of various cancers.

In his 1950 Harvey Lecture, ‘Adventures in molecular biology’, he laid down a medical programme consisting of '(a) classical histology, (b) X-ray diffraction analysis, (c) electron microscopy and (d) microbiochemistry; in relation to the whole clinical observations besides'.  Combined with the new technologies of tracers, micro-autoradiography and magnetic resonance methods, this programme is now the new line of what might be called biochemical or functional cytology.

Molecular Biology

Astbury’s main contribution to biology was his role in founding the field of molecular biology, becoming the first Professor of Biomolecular Structure at Leeds in 1946. Unfortunately, his efforts to have his unit named the Department of Molecular Biology were in vain, halted by the refusal of the Professors of Botany and Zoology to accept that such a subject existed. Astbury himself noted that the ‘biologists would not grant that I was in any way a biologist’. [9]

Molecular biology involved the use of physical methods, and often the apparatus of physicists, to study biological substances. In a letter to Arthur Tyndall, Astbury expresses his interest in applying physics to biology, particularly the use of X-ray analysis and the electron microscope in determining the structure of giant biological molecules. [16]

In 1945, Astbury was invited, by the Royal Society, to give the Croonian Lecture; a famous biological lecture, he was the first physicist to deliver it since its inception. The written invitation, and Astbury’s grateful reply, explains why a physicist is relevant to the aims of the Croonian Lecture. [30, 31]

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by Imogen Clarke