Aaron Klug made many breakthroughs that advanced the knowledge of the basic structures of molecular biology, but he is best known for his creation of the new technique of crystallographic electron microscopy which made possible not only his own scientific discoveries but those of many other scientists as well. For his development of this technique as well as for his contributions to scientific knowledge, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1982. He was also knighted as Sir Aaron Klug by Queen Elizabeth II in 1988.

Klug was born on August 11, 1926, in Zelvas, Lithuania, the son of Lazar Klug, a cattle dealer, and Bella Silin Klug. When he was two years old, he and his parents emigrated to Durban, South Africa, where members of his mother's family were already established. He was educated in the Durban public schools and, while attending Durban High School from 1937 to 1941, he developed...