When the first atomic structures of salt crystals were determined by the Braggs in 1912–1913, the analytical power of X-ray crystallography was immediately evident. Within a few decades the technique was being applied to the more complex molecules of chemistry and biology and is rightly regarded as the foundation stone of structural biology, a field that emerged in the 1950s when X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the atomic architecture of DNA and protein molecules. Since then the toolbox of structural biology has been augmented by other physical techniques, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, electron microscopy, and solution scattering of X-rays and neutrons. Together these have transformed our understanding of the molecular basis of life. Here I review the major and most recent developments in structural biology that have brought us to the threshold of a landscape of astonishing molecular complexity.

中文翻译：

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结构生物学：一个世纪之久的未知世界之旅

1912 年至 1913 年，当布拉格夫妇确定盐晶体的第一个原子结构时，X 射线晶体学的分析能力立即显现出来。在几十年内，该技术被应用于更复杂的化学和生物学分子，并被正确地视为结构生物学的基石，这一领域出现于 1950 年代，当时 X 射线衍射分析揭示了 DNA 的原子结构和蛋白质分子。从那时起，结构生物学的工具箱得到了其他物理技术的增强，包括核磁共振波谱、电子显微镜以及 X 射线和中子的溶液散射。这些共同改变了我们对生命分子基础的理解。