The 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been present to Martin Karplus , Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel for their contributions to the evolution of powerful computer programs that mock up complex chemical systems .
“ Chemists used to create models of molecules using plastic balls and stick . Today , the modelling is bear out in computers , ” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement . “ The computer is just as important a tool for chemists as the test tube . Computer models mirror genuine life have become crucial for most advance made in chemistry today . ”
Here ’s the gist : Computer simulations of chemical interaction have become received practice in everything from drug design to models of biochemical process in living organisms . But the transition from forcible experiments to accurate theoretical modeling has not been gentle . The ability to perform these feigning has ask the combination of classical- and quantum - mechanical hypothesis of chemical fundamental interaction – the former being used to mold interact atoms , the latter to simulate the electrons and nuclear nuclei of those atoms . To unify the quantum world with the classical one , as any physicist will order you , is no mean feat . Karplus , Levitt and Warshel have been award the Nobel Prize for their contributions to computer modelling that enable chemists to bridge this break .
Viathe Academy :
The work of Karplus , Levitt and Warshel is ground - breaking in that they wield to make Newton ’s classic physical science employment side - by - side with the fundamentally unlike quantum natural philosophy . Previously , chemists had to choose to employ either or . The strength of classic physics was that calculation were simple and could be used to sit really declamatory molecule . Its weakness , it offered no direction to simulate chemical substance reaction . For that function , pharmacist instead had to use quantum aperient . But such calculations require tremendous computing superpower and could therefore only be carried out for small atom .
This yr ’s Nobel Laureates in chemical science took the best from both earth and get up method that use both classical and quantum physic . For illustration , in simulations of how a drug couple to its target protein in the body , the computer performs quantum theoretic calculation on those atom in the target protein that interact with the drug . The residual of the large protein is simulated using less demand classical aperient .
Today the electronic computer is just as of import a cock for chemist as the test tube . feigning are so realistic that they predict the outcome of traditional experiments .
[ ViaNobel Prize ]
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