Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to three American scientists for marrying quantum physics, chemistry and computers

On Wednesday, three American scientists – Michael Levitt, professor at Stanford University, Arieh Warshel, professor at the University of Southern California and Martin Karplus, professor at Universite de Strasbourg in France and Harvard University – were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for building computer models to simulate chemical interactions.

In the 1960s, chemists were still building models of molecules out of clay and sticks to simulate how chemicals interacted. Physics equations made simulations possible, but there were limits. Newtonian physics allowed them to model large molecules, but not a chemical reaction. Quantum physics equations, on the other hand, gave them realistic results on an atomic level but larger molecules made the equations too complex to solve.

“Today the computer is just as important a tool for chemists as the test tube,” said the Swedish Academy of Sciences. “Simulations are so realistic that they predict the outcome of traditional experiments.”

The Washington Post has more on these scientists and their award-winning discoveries.

H/T Rebecca Jacobson