Martin Karplus, a Nobel Prize-winning theoretical chemist who uses computers to model how complex systems change during chemical reactions, has led to advances in our understanding of biological processes. He died on April 28th at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 94 years old.
His wife, Marcy Karplus, said he died while recovering from a fall that broke his femur.
During his long career, Dr. Karplus interacted with some of the most important scientists of the 20th century, including Linus Pauling and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Scientists can control the chemicals in the reaction and measure and evaluate the results, but what happens during that time is a mystery.
Sven Lidin, chairman of the Nobel Selection Committee, explained this when announcing the 2013 chemistry laureates: And in fact, there is some interesting action there, and this is what theoretical chemistry offers us – the whole drama. ”
In the early 1960s, when computers were only a fraction of the power of today's smartphones, Dr. Karplus and his fellow Nobel laureates, South African-born Michael Levitt and Israeli-born Arie Warshel, developed a virtual model. Started building. Molecules to understand what happens to molecules during complex reactions such as photosynthesis and combustion.
This model uses classical Newtonian physics to predict how large numbers of atoms and molecules move during reactions, and quantum physics to predict how chemical bonds move during those reactions. I explained how it is cut and formed. This type of analysis has proven particularly useful in understanding biological reactions involving enzymes, which are proteins that govern chemical reactions in living things.
There was initial resistance to the scientists' work because it was difficult for others to accept that computer models were accurate enough or could adequately account for the many variables in some reactions. But by the time the Nobel Prize was awarded in 2013, that skepticism had faded.
“Today, computers are as important tools for chemists as test tubes,” the academy said in a statement. “Simulations are so realistic that they can predict the results of traditional experiments.”
At Harvard University, where Dr. Karplus spent most of his career, in 1983 he and his research team created a program to simulate molecular interactions, which they called Harvard Macromolecular Mechanical Chemistry (CHARMM). This program is available to researchers worldwide.
In the late 1950s, Dr. Karplus made another important contribution to chemistry. He developed what is known as the Karplus equation. This makes it possible to calculate the size and orientation of protons in organic compounds involved in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, allowing chemists to study the arrangement of atoms within molecules. Today, it is the basis of chemical education.
Martin Karplus was born in Vienna on March 15, 1930 into a wealthy and intelligent Jewish family. He was the second son of banker Johan Karplus and hospital nutritionist Isabella (Goldstern) Karplus.
His paternal grandfather, Johann Paul Karplus, was a neurologist who discovered the function of the hypothalamus, an important brain region that controls body temperature, hunger, heart rate, and other life processes. His uncle, Eduard Karplus, was an engineer and inventor. Martin's older brother Robert became a theoretical physicist at the University of California, Berkeley.
In the face of rising anti-Semitism in the 1930s, and days after Nazi Germany annexed Austria at the Anschluss in March 1938, Martin, his younger brother and mother fled to Zurich and then France, eventually moving to Le Havre. arrived at.
Martin's father was initially imprisoned in Vienna, but was able to join the family before setting sail for New York. They arrived on October 8, 1938 and immediately moved to Newton, Massachusetts.
Martin recalled in his Nobel Prize biography that at Newton High School, many teachers doubted Martin's abilities as well, since his older brother had achieved so much there. A teacher who was in charge of the Westinghouse Science Contest, which seeks out America's top scientific talent, told Martin that participating was a waste of time.
However, he found another teacher willing to supervise the competition test. He qualified as one of 40 finalists in the country. Martin's project on the alcid waterfowl was selected as a co-winner of the competition, and he subsequently met with President Harry S. Truman in Washington.
He enrolled at Harvard University, concentrating in chemistry and physics. In 1950, as he was finishing his undergraduate degree, both the University of California, Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology (California Institute of Technology) accepted him for graduate study.
Not knowing where to go, he visited his brother Robert, who by that time was working at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Robert showed him around and introduced him to Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led the Manhattan Project. The person who developed the atomic bomb and became the director of the research institute. According to Dr. Karplus' biography, Dr. Oppenheimer recommended Caltech, where he was a professor, calling it “a light shining in the darkness.” The decision has been made.
At the California Institute of Technology, he focused on biophysics and joined Salvador E. Luria in a graduate group led by Max Delbrück, who demonstrated that Darwin's theory of evolution also applied to bacteria. Together with Alfred D. Hershey, they would receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969 for their achievements.
As Dr. Karplus writes in his Nobel Prize biography, a turning point in his life came two months after he enrolled at Caltech. Dr. Delbrück suggested that Dr. Karplus hold a seminar on the mechanics of vision, his intended field of research.
He began his presentation, but was interrupted after 10 minutes by Dr. Delbrück, who said he did not understand what Dr. Karplus was saying. Dr. Karplus began speaking anew, but Dr. Delbrück interrupted again, saying that he still did not understand. Dr. Karplus began speaking again, and Dr. Delbrück interrupted for the third time.
At this point, Dr. Richard Feynman, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 and was sitting in the audience, turned around and said to Dr. Delbrück: It's completely clear to me. ” Dr. Delbrück turned red and stormed out. Later that day, he called Dr. Karplus into his office and told him he could no longer work with him.
Dr. Karplus turned to chemistry.
In the chemistry department, Dr. Karplus initially collaborated with Professor John Kirkwood, but then Dr. Kirkwood left for Yale University. His graduate students were given the opportunity to switch to research with Linus Pauling. Only Dr. Karplus accepted.
Dr. Pauling was on the short list of greatest scientists of the 20th century. He was one of only five people to win two Nobel Prizes. His first award, in 1954, was in the field of chemistry, for discovering how atoms are chemically bonded within molecules. Second, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for promoting nuclear disarmament. His scientific research led to the creation of quantum chemistry and molecular biology.
My time with Dr. Karplus and Dr. Pauling proved fruitful. He finished his doctoral dissertation at the end of 1953, just before Dr. Pauling departed on his trip. Dr. Karplus had a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship before leaving to spend two years at the National Science Foundation. Oxford University.
In 1955, he was hired by the University of Illinois, where he was conducting advanced research in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It was during his five years at Illinois that he compiled the Karplus equation.
In 1960, Dr. Karplus was hired as a researcher at the IBM Watson Science Institute and to teach at Columbia University. With access to state-of-the-art computing power, he continued his NMR research and began investigating the creation of models to describe chemical reactions.
Dr. Karplus changed careers again in 1966, returning to Harvard University. So he began concentrating on the most complex biological reactions. This research led to the creation of CHARMM and his Nobel Prize.
In the 1990s, Dr. Karplus was appointed professor at the Louis Pasteur University (later renamed the University of Strasbourg) in France. He spent the next 20 years bouncing back and forth from Harvard University.
Dr. Karplus met Marcy Hazzard at Harvard University, where she worked for 51 years. They married in 1981. His first wife was Susan Karplus. Their marriage ended in divorce.
In addition to his wife, he has two children from a previous marriage, Reba and Tammy. He has one child, Misha, from his second marriage. and one grandchild. (Susan Karplus died in 1982. His brother Robert died in 1990.)
In 2020, Dr. Karplus published his autobiography, Spinach on the Ceiling: The Multifaceted Life of a Theoretical Chemist. The title referred to the spot where the spoonful of spinach he was ordered to eat as a boy washed up.
Throughout his career, Dr. Karplus has supervised nearly 250 graduate and doctoral students, most of whom have gone on to successful academic careers. They are collectively known as Karprusians.
