Max Rudolf Lemberg (1896–1975) – an australian biochemist of Wrocław origin

The article is devoted to Max Rudolf Lemberg (1896–1975), known primarily as an author of pioneering works on bile pigments and porphyrin degradation (in particular, coupled oxidation), and to his connections with Wrocław. This Australian biochemist of German origin was born in that city to an assimilated Jewish family. He was educated by a private teacher, and in 1905 he entered the famous liberal Johannes Gymnasium in Breslau (its building now houses Economics and Administration Schools). After leaving school in 1914, shortly before the war broke out, Lemberg began studies on natural sciences at the University of Breslau. He volunteered for an army, but was not accepted until 1917. Wounded in the Somme offensive in 1918, he resumed his studies to finish with a doctorate on the chemistry of uric acid derivatives (1921). He then became a private assistant to his Ph.D. supervisor, Professor Heinrich Biltz. However, a few years later, Biltz advised him to look for a job in the industry, and Lemberg moved to Meinheim to work for a pharmaceutical company. He often visited his native city where his parents and brother were living; in Breslau he also married Hanna Clausen in 1924. A grant from Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft and job offer from Karl Freudenberg of University of Heidelberg allowed Lemberg to come back to the scientific work, in which he decided to focus on biochemical studies. From these days dates his interest in bile pigments which led him to the habilitation in 1930. He then continued his work on linear tetrapyrroles during Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Cambridge. Shortly after his return to Heidelberg, Nazis came to power in Germany and proclaimed the Beamtengesetz act which stated that all people of Jewish origin as well as members and supporters of opposition parties should be fined from the civil service. This ended his academic career of Lemberg in Germany. Rudolf moved to Cambridge with Hanna, however, since not all refugees could stay in the Great Britain, in 1935 he accepted a proposal from the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney to work as a research biochemist. The Lembergs immigrated to Australia to begin the new chapter in their life; a few years later Walter, Rudolph’s brother, joined them with his family. The first years were particularly hard since the progress in the scientific work was hampered by the lack of modern laboratory equipment and experienced coworkers. In 1946, first of Lemberg’s books, Hematin Compounds and Bile Pigments, co-authored by John Legge, was issued. In the following years, Rudolf broadened his interests to cytochrome c oxidase and heme A, one of the enzyme prosthetic groups. His investigations in the field were summarized in the second monograph written with Jack Barrett („The Cytochromes”, 1973). His scientific interests were not limited to chemistry: he devoted several papers and lectures to the problem of life origins and to the connections between religion and science. Rudolf Lemberg was one of the founders of Australian Academy of Sciences and Australian Biochemical Society. He died in Sydney in 1975