Evening star., 1938-09-11
Nv HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor.

tissues. is shaped like cage with
eight sides is announced in the journal
Of the American Chemical Society.
The discovery promises to give good
looking Dr. Dorothy Wrinch OF Oxford
University, England, whose recreations
are tennis and country life, place
among the feminine immortals along
side Nine. Curie.
For this protein structure, essential
for understanding how inert matter
forms a living web, was predicted
through mathematics by DR.. Wrinch
and found as q result of her predic-
ton.
The work is significant not only be-
cause 1t gives really intimate knowl-
edge Of the most important biological
substances. 1t is also a great demon
stration OF the power Of geometry ap-
piled in new way. 1t seems to estab-
lish a new branch of science-the
science of mega a-molecules.
The importance is not merely theo-
retical For proteins in addition to
being the building stones are the
"active agents" in health They have
been considered one OF the keys to
understanding cancer and many other
medical and chemical puzzles.
Specializes in Geometry.
The X-ray discovery came from ex-
periments which had been thought to
prove she was wrong. For this at
tractive woman, with a welltrained
but feminine five-foot-thre stature.
was a rank intruder into the field Of
biological chemistry. where she as
eumed to speak as a prophet.
She was not biologist nor a
chemist.
Her scientific training is as math-
ematician. She is instructor in
mathematics at oxford University, and
the first woman to receive the degree
Of doctor of science from Oxford
Geometry is her specially.
Four years ago she made the daring
decision to apply geometry to some
field where it had never been used.
She chose biology.
Reading biology books and journals
to find where mathematics could be
used, she became interested in chromo-
somes. These threads of living matter,
80 small that they can be seen only
under microscope, carry all the
specifications for forming an adult.
Man. animal or plant. all grow to be
what they are due to the structure and
contents of barely visible chromo-
sonnes
There are thousands of parts in
each chromosome. The settings Of
the parts are more or less unknown
Geometry, 1t appeared, might clarity
the arrangement. But DR.. Wrinch
found she could not make much
progress with chromosomes without
knowing more about the substance
they were made Of, a protein.
Turns to Chemistry.
Neither biologists nor chemists knew
the real structure Of protein. So
she decided to start by trying mathe-
matically to solve the structure OF a
, protein. For this, she had to turn to
chemistry.
Protein molecules are SO gigantic
that chemists have been unable to
+: analyze completely any protein. They
have only identified the debris which
appears after protein has been broken
down and is no longer protein.
The problem which the chemists
faced was like trying to draw a pic
ture of the World War village of
Ypres from examining the bricks after
It's buildings had been destroyed by
high explosives.
Chemists, however, do have the
bricks Of which proteins are formed
They are amino acids, whose structure
Is well known.
DR.. Wrinch had another fact to 90
on. She knew that the great Ger
man chemist, DR.. Emil Fischer, had
proposed that the amino acid bricks
can link together in chains, and most
chemists believed that proteins were
made Of such chains. There seems,
however, to be many indications that
this was not the whole story and that
the chains alone could not account
for a protein molecule.
Two Significant Things.
Two things the chemists had OBJ
served about amino acids she thought
particularly significant One was that
In the chains of acids such as DR..
Fischer thought he had found, there
was always definite sequence of two
carbon atoms and nitrogen atom,
and then two more carbons and a
nitrogen and so on.
There we're never any cases, for ex-
ample, Of three carbon atoms and a
. nitrogen. The other remarkable fact
; was this: Every amino acid that
chemists can make can exist in two
. forms which differ only in the way
/ the right hand differs from the left.
They are mirror images of each other.
. For example, if you look at your
I" left hand in the mirror it will look
/. like the right hand without the mirror.
: The remarkable fact was that the
] amino acids found in proteins are
|, only Of one kind. They are all of the
/. left-handed variety.
Z No one had attached any particular
!, significance to this before. But 1t
: seemed to DR.. Wrinch that such a
{ fact must have a deep meaning in the
& chemistry OF proteins.
I The only other assumption DR..
; Wrinch made, and this time one not
3 very orthodox from the chemists point
! Of view. was that the amino acid brick
had four arms by which it could at
: tach itself to surrounding structures.
Z Chemists had always previously as
! sumed that the brick could have only
: two such arms-that is to be in con-
) tact with but two surrounding struc-
lures.
{ DR.. Wrinch cleverly showed that
; this four-armed building; unit could
result from rner~lv assuming that one
-.y~uxen atom in the amino acid was
in . position a little different from
that usually assumed by chemists.
Only One Method Possible.
Geometry then enabled her to show
kheFN IA oS1lv one vAv that thas> a.