The Biology Department is proud to host the Alexander Rich Lectureship.

Alexander Rich is the William Thompson Sedgwick Professor of Biophysics at MIT, where he has been since 1958. His work is largely focused on the molecular structure and the biological function of the nucleic acids, but with some additional emphasis on protein structure. He has solved the structure of many biological molecules which are difficult to crystallize, including transfer RNA, double-stranded RNA and RNA pseudoknots, and left-handed DNA.  He is author of over 550 papers.

A member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1970, Prof. Rich has been active on many government and academic advisory committees and boards, including the National Science Board and the governing board of the National Research Council. 

Prof. Rich has been awarded Honorary Doctor of Science degrees from several universities, including the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich; Freie University, Berlin; and the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine, Washington; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the American Philosophical Society; and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Rome.

The honors Prof. Rich has received for his contributions include the Rosenstiel Award in Basic Biomedical Research, the Theodore von Karmen Award for the Viking Mars Mission, NASA’s Skylab Achievement Award, the James R. Killian Faculty Achievement Award at MIT, and the Linus Pauling Medal of the American Chemical Society. In 1995, he received the U.S. National Medal of Science, and in 2002, the highest award of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Lomonosov Gold Medal).

Prof. Rich maintains an active lab in the Biology Department.

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