Johann Deisenhofer is a biochemist and biophysicist whose career has been devoted to analyzing the composition of molecular structures. An expert in the use of X-ray technology to analyze the structure of crystals, he became part of a team of scientists in the 1980s who were studying photosynthesis--the process by which plants convert sunlight into chemical energy. In 1988, he shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Robert Huber and Hartmut Michel, awarded for their work in mapping the chemical reaction at the center of photosynthesis.

Deisenhofer was born September 30, 1943, in Zusamaltheim, Bavaria, approximately fifty miles from Munich, Germany. He was the only son of Johann and Thekla Magg Deisenhofer; his parents were both farmers and they expected him to take over the family farm, as was the tradition. It was clear from an early age, however, that Deisenhofer was not interested in agriculture, and his parents sent him...