Hardly any molecule has attracted the interest of as many scientific discipfines as
has haemoglobin. Contributions from physicists, chemists and biologists have
combined to bring about a full understanding of the relationship between its
structure and function. In particular, the finding that red cell metabolism and
haemoglobin function are interdependent has provided important biological
insights that have transformed the red cell from a seemingly inconspicuous biological
unit into a model demonstrating several fundamental biological principles