Abstract :
A letter, written in 1947 by John Edsall, outlined a declared intent to set up an X-ray crystallographic laboratory devoted to the study of crystalline heavy atom derivatives of proteins in an attempt to learn more about their structure. The fundamental idea, to the recipient (B.W.L.) totally new, revolutionary, and wholly contrary to all learned certainties, led to a correspondence, presented here in excerpt. Detailed plans were made for the laboratory to be built in the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Harvard Medical School. The proteins to be studied were reviewed and debated. The work of the laboratory is briefly described. Lack of success, the fatal consequence of a then unknown feature of the protein first chosen for study, is now only recently understood. The history of the Edsall idea and initiative is explored, from its beginnings to its acceptance and exploitation. John Edsall is here recognized as prime proponent and developer of the fundamental idea behind the most powerful and, for more than three decades, the only successful approach to the determination of protein structure.
