Boyer Award Lecture Series
Paul Delos Boyer is a native of Provo, Utah where he graduated from
Brigham Young University in 1939.
He was a graduate student in the
UW-Madison Biochemistry Department with Professor Paul Phillips and
finished his Ph.D. in 1943. After 17 years as a faculty member at the
University of Minnesota, he moved to UCLA where in 1965 he became
founding Director of UCLA's Molecular Biology Institute.
As a graduate student he discovered the role of potassium as a cofactor
for pyruvate kinase. This was the first evidence for an alkaline metal
cation participating in enzyme catalysis. He continued studying enzymes
throughout his career and served as editor of the multi-volume treatise
"The Enzymes". Paul is best known for revealing the binding change
mechanism for ATP synthase involving a novel rotational catalysis.
Dr. Boyer?s achievements have been recognizing in many awards: Nobel
Prize in Chemistry, 1997; Rose Award, American Society of Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology; American Chemical Society Award in Enzyme
Chemistry; Honorary Doctorates-Stockholm, 1974; University of
Minnesota, 1996; University of Wisconsin, 1998. He is a member of the
National Academy of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Despite all the professional responsibilities Paul and his wife Lyda
find time for tennis, biking, golf, and building homes. They have
supervised construction and furnishing of three, giving Paul an outlet
for his carpentry skills.
Click on a poster below to see a larger image.