Max Gruber - History

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Short history
Prof. Dr. Max Gruber (1921-1990) was born in Dresden, Germany. In 1939 he and his family fled the Nazi regime and after having been denied access to Cuba, on their way to the American continent, they were forced to return to Europe and reached the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, Max Gruber was appointed as assistant-technician with Dr. Hendrik Westerbrink at the Physiological Laboratory of the University of Amsterdam.

Imprisonment in Camp Westerbork
During the war, he and his family were imprisoned in the Jewish transit camp Westerbork. Eventually, his family was deported, but Max, being employed as a technician, escaped from this fate and managed to flee in 1944.

After the War
After the war, Gruber studied Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam, and obtained his PhD at the University of Utrecht in 1952 (with Westerbrink, who had moved there).

After his marriage with Susanne Heynemann in the same year, the newly wedded left for Bandung, Indonesia, where Gruber had been appointed at the Universitas Indonesia (the current Institut Teknologi Bandung) as professor of Biochemistry.

Return to The Netherlands
In 1956 he returned to The Netherlands, was appointed as professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Groningen, and established the Laboratory of Biochemistry. His research was focused on the structure of proteins, protein degradation in the lysosomes, and the biosynthesis of RNA and proteins.

At his retirement in 1986, Max Gruber had (co-)supervised 67 PhD students, 12 of whom eventually also received an appointment as professor.

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INTERVIEW MAX GRUBER
Het Noord-Hollands Archief beheert het Archief van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Biochemie en Moluculaire Biologie. Dit archief omvat onder andere twee CD's met een interview met Prof.dr. M. Gruber. Voor geïnteresseerden zijn deze te bestellen à € 2,50 per CD (plus administratiekosten) via Prof.dr. J.J. Beintema (j.beintema home.nl; tel 050-3132150).

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