Günter Blobel (1936–2018)

Abstract

On 18 February, we lost our Ph.D. adviser, Günter Blobel, who succumbed to a battle with cancer at age 81. For both of us, it felt akin to losing a close family member. Typical of graduate students, we arrived in his lab unformed and malleable, and we eagerly absorbed not only information, logic, and experimental technique but also Günter's scientific mind-set. Perhaps the most important thing that Günter taught us is that science is not an ordinary job. He lived science as a passion, filled with emotions and purpose, with personality and intuitive preconceptions (that is, hypotheses), and with a keen eye on aesthetics and beauty in approach and execution.

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