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| In the
early 1970s Walther Stoeckenius and Dieter Oesterhelt at Rockefeller University
in New York discovered that a protein isolated from a salt marsh bacterium
exhibited photosensitive properties. They called this protein bacteriorhodopsin
because it was very similar to the protein, rhodopsin that is found in the
eyes of humans and animals. The Soviets saw potential in bacteriorhodopsin for use in computing. They created a project entitled Project Rhodopsin. They used the photosensitive properties to store and manipulate data, and deserve credit for demonstrating the significant potential of this protein for computer memory. Professor Birge was studying the biochemical basis of vision at the University of California at Riverside. He was originally working with a related protein called Rhodopsin, found in the retina of mammals. He was originally interested purely in understanding how the light-activated changes occurred. In the late 1970s he became interested in bacteriorhodopsin. Professor Birge attempted to apply the photosensitive properties of the protein to the design of computer memories. |
 Protein Visual QuickTime movie 1.2 MB Fowler students growing bacteria QuickTime movie 2.15MB |
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