Aaron Klug

Aaron Klug (11 August 1926 – 20 November 2018) was a Lithuanian-born British biophysicist and chemist renowned for pioneering crystallographic electron microscopy and elucidating the structures of biologically important nucleic acid–protein complexes, work that earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1982.

Born in Želva, Lithuania, Klug emigrated with his family to South Africa at the age of two (c. 1928), where he grew up in Durban and developed an early interest in science inspired by books like Paul de Kruif's Microbe Hunters. He attended Durban High School and, at age 15, enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand, earning a B.Sc. with first-class honors in mathematics, physics, and chemistry by 1945. Klug then completed an M.Sc. in physics at the University of Cape Town in 1946 under Raymond James, focusing on X-ray crystallography. In 1947, he moved to the University of Cambridge for doctoral studies at Trinity College, where he received his Ph.D. in 1953 for research on the microstructure of steel using X-ray diffraction, supervised by Douglas Hartree.

Aaron Klug was born on 11 August 1926 in the shtetl of Želva (also spelled Zelva or Zelvas), Lithuania, to Jewish parents Lazar Klug, a saddler and cattle trader, and Bella Klug (née Silin), whose family operated a local shop. Lazar, who had received both a secular and traditional Jewish education, supplemented his trade by working as a newspaper stringer, writing articles in Yiddish on Jewish topics for the South African Jewish press.

In 1929, when Klug was three years old, the family emigrated from Lithuania to Durban, South Africa, fleeing antisemitism and economic hardship amid regional instability, including threats from the Bolshevik army; Lazar had preceded them shortly after Klug's birth, joining relatives from Bella's side who had already settled there. The Klugs, part of a modest Yiddish-speaking household, adapted to their new life in the subtropical port city, where the family switched to English and Klug grew up immersed in the local Jewish community, enjoying the beaches and surrounding bush. Tragically, Bella died in 1932 when Klug was six, after which his aunt Rose stepped in as a surrogate mother.

Klug maintained a strong Jewish identity and observance, rooted in his Lithuanian heritage, attending synagogue, keeping kosher, and celebrating festivals as a family, even amid the discriminatory apartheid policies in his native South Africa that affected Jewish communities. He nurtured ties to Israel through frequent visits and leadership roles, including chairing the International Advisory Committee for the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev and serving on the board of governors at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, while supporting broader Jewish causes with an open-minded approach to tradition.