George Feher (1924–2017): The Architect of Biological Precision
George Feher was a titan of 20th-century science whose career path traced a remarkable arc from the fundamental physics of semiconductors to the complex machinery of photosynthesis. A founding faculty member of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Feher is best remembered for inventing the ENDOR (Electron Nuclear Double Resonance) technique and for providing the first detailed physical description of how plants and bacteria convert sunlight into chemical energy.
1. Biography: From Refugee to Physics Pioneer
George Feher was born on May 29, 1924, in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. His early life was defined by the upheaval of World War II. In 1941, as a teenager, he fled the Nazi occupation, eventually making his way to Haifa in what was then British Mandate Palestine. During this period, he served in the Haganah and worked as a technician, showing an early aptitude for electronics.
Following the war, Feher moved to the United States to pursue higher education at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his B.S. (1950), M.S. (1951), and Ph.D. (1954) in physics. His doctoral research, conducted under the legendary solid-state physicist Charles Kittel, focused on electron spin resonance (ESR) in metals.
In 1954, Feher joined Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, then the world’s premier industrial research hub. It was here that he performed his most celebrated work in pure physics. In 1960, he was recruited by Roger Revelle to become one of the founding members of the Physics Department at the newly established UC San Diego. He remained at UCSD for the rest of his life, transitioning his research focus from solid-state physics to the emerging field of biophysics.
2. Major Contributions: ENDOR and Photosynthesis
Feher’s career is defined by two major scientific "acts."
Act I: The Invention of ENDOR (1956)
While at Bell Labs, Feher sought a way to resolve the "hyperfine" interactions between an electron's spin and the nuclei surrounding it. Standard ESR was often too "blurry" to see these details. Feher developed Electron Nuclear Double Resonance (ENDOR), a technique that uses two different frequencies (microwave and radiofrequency) simultaneously.
- Significance: This allowed scientists to measure the environment of an electron with unprecedented precision. Feher first used it to map the distribution of electrons around impurities in silicon, work that was vital for the burgeoning semiconductor industry.
Act II: The Biophysics of Photosynthesis
In the late 1960s, Feher pivoted to biology. He applied his rigorous physics background to the "Reaction Center" (RC)—the heart of the photosynthetic machinery where light energy is converted into a charge separation.
- Isolation of the RC: Feher’s lab was the first to isolate and purify the reaction center protein from the purple bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides.
- Mapping Electron Transfer: Using his ENDOR technique and EPR (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance), he tracked the path of the electron as it leaped across molecules within the protein. He proved that photosynthesis wasn't just a chemical reaction, but a high-precision electronic circuit.
3. Notable Publications
Feher was known for the "quality over quantity" approach, though his output was significant. Key works include:
- "Electron Nuclear Double Resonance (ENDOR) Method" (1956, Physical Review): The foundational paper describing his new spectroscopic technique.
- "Observation of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance of Isotopic Impurities in Silicon" (1959, Physical Review): A landmark study in condensed matter physics.
- "Primary Processes in Bacterial Photosynthesis" (1971, Photochemistry and Photobiology): This marked his definitive entry into the biological realm.
- "Structure and Function of Bacterial Photosynthetic Reaction Centres" (1989, Nature): Co-authored with Allen, Komiya, Yeates, and Rees, this paper detailed the three-dimensional structure of the RC at atomic resolution.
4. Awards and Recognition
Feher’s work earned him the highest honors in both physics and chemistry, reflecting his interdisciplinary impact:
- Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize (1960): For his development of ENDOR.
- Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1982): Shared with Melvin Calvin, for his work on the primary steps of photosynthesis.
- Rumford Prize (1991): Awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for contributions to the understanding of energy conversion in photosynthesis.
- National Academy of Sciences: Elected as a member in 1975.
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Elected in 1977.
5. Impact and Legacy
Feher is often cited as a founding father of modern Biophysics. Before him, biology was often viewed by physicists as "too messy" for rigorous measurement. Feher proved that biological systems could be studied with the same mathematical and experimental precision as a silicon crystal.
His work on the reaction center provided the experimental foundation for the 1988 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (awarded to Deisenhofer, Huber, and Michel). While Feher did not share in the Nobel, the winners acknowledged that their structural work relied heavily on the purified proteins and spectroscopic data pioneered by Feher’s lab.
6. Collaborations
Feher was a collaborative force who mentored generations of scientists.
- Melvin Okamura: A long-time collaborator at UCSD, Okamura worked closely with Feher for decades on the biochemistry of the reaction center.
- Charles Kittel: His PhD advisor, who helped shape Feher’s rigorous approach to solid-state physics.
- The "RC Group": At UCSD, he worked with researchers like James Allen and Douglas Rees to solve the crystal structure of the reaction center, bridging the gap between spectroscopy and crystallography.
7. Lesser-Known Facts
- The "Illegal" Voyage: To escape Europe in 1941, Feher boarded a ship that was technically illegal under British immigration quotas. The ship was intercepted, and he was briefly interned in a camp in Palestine before being released.
- The "Feher Style": Among his students, Feher was famous for his "zero-tolerance" for experimental error. He insisted on building his own equipment if commercial versions weren't precise enough. His lab at UCSD was legendary for its custom-built spectrometers and ultra-stable magnets.
- A Late-Life Passion: Even in his 80s, Feher remained active in the lab. He shifted his focus toward understanding how proteins pump protons, a fundamental process in cellular respiration and energy production, proving that his intellectual curiosity never dimmed.