Video: Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2013

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded  the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2013 to Martin Karplus of Université de Strasbourg, France and Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; Michael Levitt of Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.; and Arieh Warshel of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; "for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems."

According to a press release from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Chemists used to create models of molecules using plastic balls and sticks. Today, the modelling is carried out in computers. In the 1970s, Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel laid the foundation for the powerful programs that are used to understand and predict chemical processes. Computer models mirroring real life have become crucial for most advances made in chemistry today.

Martin Karplus, U.S. and Austrian citizen. Born 1930 in Vienna, Austria. Ph.D. 1953 from California Institute of Technology, Calif. Professeur Conventionné, Université de Strasbourg, France and Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Michael Levitt, U.S., Brittish and Israeli citizen. Born 1947 in Pretoria, South Africa. Ph.D. 1971 from University of Cambridge, UK. Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor in Cancer Research, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.

Arieh Warshel, U.S. and Israeli citizen. Born 1940 in Kibbutz Sde-Nahum, Israel. Ph.D. 1969 from Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. Distinguished Professor, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.