Exhibition

Exhibition about Max Perutz draws over 5.000 visitors

Although he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his research on hemoglobin, Max Perutz is hardly known to a broader public in Austria. The exhibition and science outreach project “Breathing at High Altitude” was created to teach the public about the life and science of this extraordinary researcher. During its first public showing at the University of Vienna the exhibition was visited by more than 5.000 people over the course of four weeks.

Jun 30, 2022

The exhibition pavilion at the courtyard of the University of Vienna was open to the public between May 19 and June 15 and was frequented by students, tourists, and many visitors as part of the guided tour to the university.

The exhibition program also involved a series of events at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In his talk, Max Perutz Labs group leader Thomas Leonard shared insights about Max’s natural curiosity and the scientific question that drove his career: How does hemoglobin transport oxygen?

On the occasion of the newly published German translation of the biography "Max Perutz and the Secret of Life", Klaus Taschwer (Der Standard) talked with Perutz biographer Georgina Ferry about her memories of the Austrian-British biochemist and his struggle in politically challenging times. Actor Cornelius Obonya read from the German version of the book.

The exhibition was also part of the Long Night of Research, Austria’s biggest science outreach event with more than 200 locations and over 2000 stations. At a station hosted by Max Perutz Labs group leader Sebastian Falk, visitors could learn hands-on about protein crystallization and x-ray crystallography, the technique that was at the core of Max Perutz’s research.

“Breathing at High Altitude”will be shown at other locations in Vienna in the coming months.

 

About the exhibition, dates and locations

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