Manuel Morales

Manuel Francisco Morales
Born July 23, 1919
San Pedro, Sula, Honduras
Died November 12, 2009 (aged 90)
Citizenship USA
Nationality Honduran
Fields Biophysics, Cell biology
Institutions University of Chicago, Naval Medical Research Institute, Dartmouth Medical School, UCSF, University of the Pacific
Alma mater UC Berkeley A.B., Harvard University Ph.D
Known for energetics of ATP hydrolysis, myosin structure by FRET
Notable awards National Academy of Sciences, Order of the Rising Sun

Manuel Francisco Morales (July 23, 1919 – November 12, 2009) was a Honduran-born American biophysicist who did pivotal research on the molecular basis of muscle contraction.

Scientific career

In the 1950s at the Naval Medical Research Institute, Morales and Terrell Hill showed that the high energy of the terminal phosphate bond in ATP was due to electrostatic repulsion between the three phosphate groups,[1][2] and he and Richard Podolsky measured the heat of hydrolysis for ATP cleavage, the fundamental energy currency of biological metabolism.[1][3]

Awards and service

Morales was elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and awarded the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan). He served as President of the Biophysical Society for 1968–69,[4] and was the founding editor of the Annual Review of Biophysics.[1]

Key publications

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Biophysical Society: Newsletter: Obituary: Manuel Francisco Morales (accessed 11 February 2013)
  2. Hill TL, Morales MF. (1951) On “High Energy Phosphate Bonds” of Biochemical Interest. J Am Chem Soc 73: 1656–1660 (doi:10.1021/ja01148a072)
  3. Podolsky RJ, Morales MF. (1956) The Enthalpy Change of Adenosine Triphosphate Hydrolysis J Biol Chem 218: 945–959 (pdf)
  4. "List of past presidents, Biophysical Society".