Lemberg, Max Rudolf (Rudi) (1896 - 1975)

Summary

Rudi Lemberg was a distinguished biochemist noted for his research in biological pigments when he came to Australia in 1935 to become Director of the Biomedical Laboratories at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. He made significant contributions to the study of the structure of prosthetic groups, especially those of cytochrome oxidase and cytochrome, and the biochemistry and chemical pathology of porphyrias. With colleagues Lemberg established the relationship of polystictin to antibiotic actinomycins. His book Hematin compounds and bile pigments, published in 1949 with J. W. Legge, established him as an authority in field of tetrapyrrole biochemistry. From 1952 to 1972 Lemberg was Assistant Director of the Institute for Medical Research at the Royal North Shore Hospital. The Lemberg Medal and Lecture was inaugurated by the Australian Biochemical Society in 1968 and has been awarded by the Australian Society for Biochemical and Molecular Biology since 1990.

Details

Chronology

1923

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Breslau, Germany

1923 - 1926

Career position - Biochemist, Bayer

1935 - 1972

Career position - Director, Biomedical Laboratories, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney

1936 - 1972

Career position - Assistant Director, Institute for Medical Research, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney

1948

Award - H. G. Smith Memorial Medal, Australian Chemical Institute

1952 - 1975

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

1953 - 1975

Award - Petitioner for the Academy, Founding Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1954

Award - Archibald Liversidge Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales

1954

Career position - President, Section N, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

1954 - 1966

Career position - Member, National Committee for Biochemistry, Australian Academy of Science

1955

Career position - Foundation President, Australian Biochemical Society

1956

Career position - Professor Emeritus, University of Heidelberg, Germany

1956

Career position - President, Royal Society of New South Wales

1956 - 1958

Career position - Member of Council, Australian Academy of Science

1957 - 1958

Career position - Vice-President, Australian Academy of Science

1959

Award - President, Haematin Enzyme Symposium, Canberra

1964

Award - James Cook Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales

1965

Award - Britannica (Australia) Prize for Science

1968

Award - Lemberg Medal and Lecture instituted by the Australian Biochemical Society

1970

Award - Doctor of Science (DSc), honoris causa, University of Sydney

1971

Award - Walter Burfitt Prize, Royal Society of New South Wales

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Max Rudolph Lemberg - Records, 1926 - 1975, MS 087; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Biographical cuttings on Max Rudolph Lemberg, Cuttings files BIOG; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Books

• Encounter with Rudi Lemberg (Surry Hills, New South Wales: Religious Society of Friends in Australia, 1975), 24 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Bhathal, R., 'Lemberg, Max Rudolph (1896-1975), Biochemist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 15: 1940 - 1980 Kem-Pie, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000), pp. 60-62. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150102b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Barrett, J.; Robertson, R. N., 'Max Rudolf Lemberg', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 4 (1) (1979), 133-156. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9790410133.htm. Details
• Legge, J. W., 'Obituary: Max Rudolf Lemberg (1896-1975)', Search, 6 (10) (1975), 404. Details
• Lemberg, M. R.; and Frankel, O. H., 'John Edwin Rogers Falk', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 2 (3) (1972), 92-107. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9720230092.htm. Details
• Lemberg, Max Rudolph, 'Chemist, Biochemist, and Seeker in Three Countries', Annual Review of Biochemistry, 34 (1965), 1-20. Details
• Lemberg, Max Rudolph, 'The Complimentarity of Religion and Science: A Trialogue', Zygon, 14 (4) (1979), 349-375. Details
• Nelson, David S., 'The Kolling Institute of Medical Research', Medical Journal of Australia, 143 (1985), 97-101. Details
• Rimington, C.; and Gray, C. H., 'Max Rudolf Lemberg', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 22 (1976), 256-94. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1976.0011. Details
• Storey, Catherine E., 'From opposite sides of the trenches: the two pioneers of the Kolling Institute of Medical Research, 1920 - 1974', Medical journal of Australia, 213 (11) (2020), 511-3. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.50798. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7376946. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/122220327. Details
• 'Lemberg, Max Rudolf (1896-1975)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1464123. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Lemberg, Max Rudolph - Ms 87', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms087.html. Details
• Barrett, J.; and Robertson, R.N., 'Max Rudolph Lemberg 1896-1975', in Australian Academy of Science Biographical Memoirs, Australian Academy of Science, 2006, https://www.science.org.au/fellowship/fellows/biographical-memoirs-1/max-rudolf-lemberg-1896-1975. Details