A biochemist known for his wide range of technical skills in the laboratory, Hartmut Michel has spent his career studying the complex proteins involved in photosynthesis. He shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Johann Deisenhofer and Robert Huber for a project he initiated: a detailed analysis of the atomic structure of a cluster of proteins called the photosynthetic reaction center.

Hartmut Michel was born July 18, 1948, in Ludwigsburg, Germany, to Karl and Freda Kachler Michel. His father was a joiner and his mother was a dressmaker, though in previous generations, Michel's family on both sides had been farmers. Michel graduated in 1967 from the Friedrich Schiller Gymnasium, with a strong interest in molecular biology and biochemistry, but before pursuing his education, served for two years in the military.

In 1969, Michel enrolled in the University of Tubingen. During 1972, he did laboratory work at the University of Munich and at the...