Nationality United States Fields Biochemistry Education Princeton University | Name Gordon Hammes Alma mater Princeton University Awards William C. Rose Award | |
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Known for Enzyme kinetics and mechanism Notable awards McKay Prize, ACS Award in Biological Chemistry Books Physical Chemistry for the Bi, Spectroscopy for the Biological, Thermodynamics and Kinetics f, Enzyme catalysis and regul, Principles of chemical kinetics | ||
Gordon G. Hammes (born 1934 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin) is a Distinguished Service Professor of Biochemistry, Emeritus, at Duke University and member of United States National Academy of Sciences. Hammes's research involves the study of enzyme mechanisms and enzyme regulation.
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Early life and education
Hammes was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1934. He earned his B.A. from Princeton University in 1956 and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1959.
Career
Hammes conducted postdoctoral research with Manfred Eigen at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, Germany. He then secured a faculty position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before moving to Cornell University in 1965, where he was professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry. He spent some time at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and joined the biochemistry faculty at Duke University in 1991. He served as vice chancellor of academic affairs at the Duke University Medical Center from 1991 through 1998.
Hammes was editor-in-chief of the American Chemical Society journal Biochemistry from 1992 until 2003, and president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology starting in 1994. The Gordon Hammes ACS Biochemistry Lectureship was established in 2009 in order to honor significant contributions to the field of biochemistry.
Scientific contributions
Hammes's research centered on enzyme mechanisms and enzyme regulation. He has studied numerous enzymes including pyruvate dehydrogenase and fatty acid synthase. He has written several books, including Chemical Kinetics; Principles and Selected Topics (1966), Thermodynamics and Kinetics for the Biological Sciences (2000), and Spectroscopy for the Biological Sciences (2005).