This year's chemistry Nobel recognizes computer-modelling techniques that show, for instance, how a protein called lysozyme (left) cleaves glycosidic bonds (yellow). The method blends detailed quantum-mechanical calculations (right) with less-intensive computation to model the rest of the protein.
JOHAN JARNESTAD/THE ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Computer modelling is one of the many scientific fields that Alfred Nobel, understandably, failed to anticipate in his 1895 will. And so, as Michael Levitt points out, "there's no Nobel prize for computer science". But computation's increasing importance in chemistry and biology was recognized last week, when Levitt, of Stanford University in California, was one of three scientists to receive the chemistry Nobel for their work on ways to simulate the activity of large molecules — from cellular enzymes to light-absorbing dyes.
Feed: Nature - Issue - nature.com science feeds
Posted on: Tuesday, 15 October 2013 11:00 AM
Author: Richard Van Noorden
Subject: Modellers react to chemistry award
Modellers react to chemistry award
Nature 502, 7471 (2013). http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/502280a
Author: Richard Van Noorden
Prize proves that theorists can measure up to experimenters.
View article...<http://feeds.nature.com/~r/nature/rss/current/~3/WWcdhlOKbEE/502280a>
No comments:
Post a Comment