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Three U.S.-based scientists, Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel won this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for developing powerful computer models that others can use to understand complex chemical interactions and create new drugs.
Karplus, an 83-year-old U.S. and Austrian citizen, is affiliated with the University of Strasbourg, France, and Harvard University. The academy said Levitt, 66, is a British, U.S., and Israeli citizen and a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Warshel, 72, is a U.S. and Israeli citizen affiliated with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
According to FOX NEWS, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said their research in the 1970s has helped scientists develop programs that unveil chemical processes such as the purification of exhaust fumes or photosynthesis in green leaves, making it possible to optimize catalysts for cars or design drugs and solar cells.
When scientists wanted to simulate complex chemical processes on computers, they used to have to choose between software that was based on classical Newtownian physics or ones based on quantum physics. But the academy said the three laureates developed computer models that "opened a gate between these two worlds."
The strength of their methods is that they can be used to study all kinds of chemistry, it said.
Jeremy Berg, a professor of computational and systems biology at the University of Pittsburgh, said their work gives scientists a way to understand complicated reactions that involve thousands to millions of atoms.
Many drug companies use computer simulations to screen substances for their potential as medicines, which lets them focus their chemistry lab work on those that look promising, he said.