The Nobel Prize in chemistry has gone to three scientists who "took the chemical experiment into cyberspace".
"Today the computer is just as important a tool for chemists as the test tube.
The exact mechanics of a chemical reaction are hard to observe in the laboratory.
"Molecules are lazy
creatures. Most of the time they don't do anything," said Gunnar
Karlstrom from the Royal Academy. "They just swing around and don't do
anything, and then suddenly, when they react, everything goes quick,
like that."
New computer programs allow scientists to make models of these speedy reactions and study them at a slower pace, he said.
The three scientists
combined the principles of traditional Newtonian physics, which has the
advantage of being simple, with quantum physics, which is much more
complex but also much more accurate, because it deals with what goes on
at a subatomic level.
"The Nobel Laureates in Chemistry 2013 have made it possible to map the mysterious ways of chemistry by using computers," said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
The trio made it possible "to map the mysterious ways of chemistry using computers". |
Karplus, a U.S. and Austrian citizen, carries
out research at the University of Strasbourg and Harvard University.
Levitt, a U.S. and British citizen, is at the Stanford University School
of Medicine.
Warshel, a U.S. and Israel citizen, is a professor at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
"Today the computer is just as important a
tool for chemists as the test tube," the academy said in a statement.
"Computer models mirroring real life have become crucial for most
advances made in chemistry today.
"Chemical
reactions occur at lightning speed; electrons jump between atomic
nuclei, hidden from the prying eyes of scientists," the academy added.
Modelling proteins and their interactions in the human body has led to new drug treatments |
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