Frederic M. Richards
Biochemist, biophysicist, crystallographer, and sailor; founder and chair of Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University (1925-2009) · United States · On the map · Scientists · Died at 83
Frederic Middlebrook Richards, commonly referred to as Fred Richards, was an American biochemist and biophysicist known for solving the pioneering crystal structure of the ribonuclease S enzyme in 1967 and for defining the concept of solvent-accessible surface.
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A typical day, 30 days to 13 June 2026
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![3D structure of ribonuclease S, drawn as the frontispiece for an early review on protein structure[5]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/RibonucleaseS_ribbon_drawing_scratchboard.png/1280px-RibonucleaseS_ribbon_drawing_scratchboard.png)
3D structure of ribonuclease S, drawn as the frontispiece for an early review on protein structure[5]
Sally and Fred Richards near the top of Mt Washington, around 1980
Ribonuclease S superimposed on the uncleaved ribonuclease A, showing match of overall fold and of His 12 and His 119 (hotpink) at the active site
Original Richards box built by Richards in 1968 at Oxford
Diagram showing definition of Solvent Accessible Surface (SAS), in yellow dotsAwards
About this person
He contributed many key experimental and theoretical results and developed new methods, garnering over 20,000 journal citations in several quite distinct research areas. In addition to the protein crystallography and biochemistry of ribonuclease S, these included solvent accessibility and internal packing of proteins, the first side-chain rotamer library, high-pressure crystallography, new types of chemical tags such as biotin/avidin, the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift index, and structural and biophysical characterization of the effects of mutations.
