Charles Tanford

Charles Tanford (December 29, 1921 – October 1, 2009) was a German-born protein biochemist. He died in York, England, on October 1, 2009.

Early life and education Charles Tanford was born in Halle, Germany in 1921 to Majer and Charlotte Tannenbaum. His parents, who were Jewish, fled to England in 1929 anticipating the coming rule of the Nazi Party, and changed their name to Tanford. His postdoctoral research was concerned with physical chemistry inspired by Kai Linderstrom-Lang. He wrote, "What I had been taught was the more elegant process of using equations: equations that linked thermodynamic properties, dielectric constant and dipole moment, binding equilibria, and a host of other possibilities to revealing molecular characteristics." His book on macromolecules, The Physical Chemistry of Macromolecules (1961) took ten years to write, and peer review "came only after submission of the final manuscript, and when it came it was a disaster. There were 2 reviewers and their criticism was scathing; I had got it all wrong, they said, and the book was declared effectively unpublishable...John Wiley & Sons reluctantly agreed to publish...the book was in fact a success..."

In 1973 Tanford published The Hydrophobic Effect, which covered proteins in all their various guises including those within cell membranes. Although he popularized the term hydrophobic effect, he attributed the origin of this concept to G. S. Hartley and the later efforts of Walter Kauzmann. Tanford gave great credit to the giants upon whose shoulders he stood. and protein denaturation, in both cases as applied to lysozyme. He also published important work on protein hydration and on the viscosity of solutions of proteins.

In 1981, Tanford became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.

Developing the theme of proteins as autonomous effectors, like robots, Charles and his partner Jacqueline Reynolds wrote Nature's Robots: A history of proteins, published by Oxford University Press in 2001.

Tanford retired in 1988 but remained James B. Duke Professor Emeritus in the Department of Cell Biology until his death in 2009. and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. and Alexander von Humboldt Foundations (1984). He received the Merck Award for Molecular Biology. He was distinguished Eastman Professorship at Oxford. was opened in Halle (Saale), city of his birth, by Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka, Federal Minister of Science and Education.

Personal life While at Harvard, he married Lucia L. Brown. They had three children, Vicki, Alex and Sarah. Charles was divorced in 1968, and soon thereafter began a professional and personal relationship with Dr. Jacqueline A. Reynolds, a fellow biochemist, that would last until his death. Dr. Reynolds and Tanford's blended family include Jackie's children, Tom Reynolds (d.2000), Ben Reynolds, Deborah Reynolds Jackson, and Rebecca Reynolds Newton. He and Reynolds published two travel books A Travel Guide to the Scientific Sites of the British Isles: A Guide to the People, Places and Landmarks and The Scientific Traveler: a Guide to the People, Places and Institutions of Europe. They were also frequent contributors to the British scientific magazine Nature.