Nobel in chemistry: multiscale models for complex chemical systems

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

Designing drugs:
Ultimately, the ability to computerize such complex chemical processes might make it possible to simulate a complete living organism at the molecular level - something Levitt has described as one of his dreams.
"It's like seeing a watch and wondering how actually it works," Warshel, talking about the use of computer programs, told reporters in Stockholm by phone link.
"You can use it to design drugs, or in my case, to satisfy your curiosity."

Did you know ?....105 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry have been awarded between 1901 and 2013. 63 Chemistry Prizes have been given to one Laureate only. 4 women have been awarded the Chemistry Prize so far. 1 person, Frederick Sanger, has been awarded the Chemistry Prize twice, in 1958 and in 1980. 35 years was the age of the youngest Chemistry Laureate ever, Frédéric Joliot, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1935. 85 years was the age of the oldest Chemistry Laureate, John B. Fenn, when he was awarded the Chemistry Prize in 2002. 57 is the average age of the Nobel Laureates in Chemistry the year they were awarded the prize.

consulted and shared thankfully: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/09/us-nobel-chemistry-idUSBRE9980AO20131009  http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/09/world/europe/sweden-nobel-prize-chemistry/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24458534http://www.nobelprize.org/