Modern Computational Organic Chemistry Group Meeting

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Modern Computational Organic Chemistry Group Meeting Baran Lab Steven McKerrall Modern Computational Organic Chemistry Group Meeting Overview: Computational Chemists Featured in this Talk (not exaustive!) Classical Computational Chemistry 1. History of computational chemistry 2. Introduction to chemical calulations (for organic chemists) – quantum mechanics, a review Quantum – Hartree-Fock theory Chemical – basis functions/basis sets Theory – post-Hartree-Fock methods – density-functional theory – computational methods, an overview 3. Computing physical properties – aromaticity – spectral properties: IR, NMR, CD How to employ Douglas Hartree Vladimir Fock Walter Kohn John Pople (1897–1958) (1898–1974) (UCSD, UCSB) (1925-2004) 4. Analyzing organic reactions computational methods – general concepts: transition state theory Contemporary Computational Organic Chemistry – dyotropic reactions – cationic rearrangements in terpene biosynthesis 5. Quantum tunneling effects – light-atom tunneling – heavy-atom tunneling – tunneling in enzyme catalysis Unusual mechanisms in 6. Deviations from TST: potential energy surface bifurcations organic – valley-ridge inflections (VRIs) chemistry – bifurcations where you'd least expect them – selectivity in bifurcated PESs Don Truhlar Paul v. R. Schleyer Ken Houk (UCLA) Henry F. Schaefer III (Minnesota) 7. Deviations from TST: dynamic effects in organic reactions 922 (UGA) 1019 1209 (UGA) – computational dynamics 1428 – non-statistical dynamics in organic reactions – dynamic effects in terpene biosynthesis Significant References: Computational Organic Chemistry (2007), Steven M. Bachrach Essentials of Computational Chemistry (2002), Christopher J. Cramer Chris Cramer Encyclopedia of Computational Chemistry (1998), Paul von Ragué Schleyer Daniel Singleton Peter Schreiner Dean Tantillo (Minnesota) (Texas A&M) (Giessen) (UC Davis) 366 308 167 1 Baran Lab Steven McKerrall Modern Computational Organic Chemistry Group Meeting 1. History of Computational Chemistry Computational Chemistry is the use of computer simulation to predict, understand, or explain chemical reactivity. Number of citations per year to "DFT" (unfilled) and "Gaussian" (filled) Nobel Prizes in Computational Chemistry: -Walter Kohn (1998): "for his development of density-functional theory" from Computational Organic Chemistry -John Pople (1998): "for his development of computational methods in quantum chemistry" -Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt, and Arieh Warshel (2013): "for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems" 5 of the top 10 most cited papers of all time in JACS are computational: 1. Development and use of quantum mechanical molecular models. 76. AM1: a new general purpose quantum mechanical molecular model (7854) Moore's Law: The number of transistors 2. A Second Generation Force Field for the Simulation of Proteins, Nucleic Acids, and on integrated circuits doubles Organic Molecules (3338) approximately every two years. 3. Development and Testing of the OPLS All-Atom Force Field on Conformational The ever-increasing computing power of Energetics and Properties of Organic Liquids (3011) modern computers drives the extension 6. Nucleus-Independent Chemical Shifts: A Simple and Efficient Aromaticity Probe of computational chemistry to more (2207) complicated systems with more sophisticated levels of theory 8. A new force field for molecular mechanical simulation of nucleic acids and proteins (1490) A Brief History: 1925 – Warner Heisenberg, Max Born, and Pascal Jordan develop matrix mechanics – Erwin Schrödinger invents wave mechanics and non-relativistic Schrödinger equation – Walter Heitler and Fritz London publish first calculations on chemical bonding 1927 – Douglas Hartree publishes self–consistent field method 1930 – Vladimir Fock formulates Hartree–Fock theory Much of modern computational 1947 – ENIAC is the first general–purpose computer to be built chemisry is performed on linux 1950 – Clemens Roothaan publishes LCAO theory clusters where multiple processors can 1951 – UNIVAC is the first commercial general–purpose computer be utilized and many calculations can be run in parallel 1955 – First ab initio calculation on 'large' molecule, N2 – Transistors replace vacuum tubes in computers 1964 – Pierre Hohenberg and Walter Kohn introduce density–functional theory 1970 – John Pople introduces Gaussian (software) 1971 – First commercially available microprocessor (Intel 4004) 2 Baran Lab Steven McKerrall Modern Computational Organic Chemistry Group Meeting 2. Introduction to chemical calculations With the one electron wavefunction assumption the total Quantum Mechanics, a Review electronic energy can be described as the sum of electronic energies Ei. Which arise from the Hartree equation: Quantum chemical calculations entail solution of the time-independent Schrödinger equation eff (K + Ve-n + Vi )φi = Eiφi HΨ(R1...Rn,r1...rn) = EΨ(R1...Rn,r1...rn) – K is the kinetic energy operator for electrons – H is the Hamiltonian operator (which describes potential and kinetic energy of the – V is the potential energy operator from electron nucleus attraction molecule) – V eff is the effective field of all other electrons – Ψ(x) is the wavefunction for nuclei and electrons (a function of nuclear positions R and i electron positions r) – E is the energy associated with the wavefunction The probability density of a wavefunction is given by its square (technically complex Self-consistent field: solving for a set of functions φi is still problematic because the conjugate), 2 eff Ψ effective field Vi is dependent on the wavefunctions. To solve this problem an iterative Hartree-Fock Theory procedure is used where: 1. a set of functions, (φ1...φn) is guessed eff There are very few scenarios for which an analytic solution fo the Schrödinger equation exists. 2. to produce a potential Vi In order to arrive at a solution for any systems of interest several assumptions must be made: 3. which produces a new set of functions φi eff 4. which produces a new potential Vi Born Oppenheimer Approximation: the nuclear and electronic portions of the ... wavefunction can be treated separately. Because electrons are much lighter than nuclei, they move much more rapidly and respond essentially instantaneously to changes in This procedure is repeated until the functions φi no longer change (converge) and produce nuclear position a self-consistent field (SCF). SCF convergence is a necessity for energy calculations. Ψ(R1...Rn,r1...rn) = Φ(R1...Rn)ψ(r1...rn) – Φ is a wavefunction for nuclei and a function of nuclear positions R – ψ is a wavefunction for electrons and a function of electron positions r Linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO): electronic wavefunctions φi are molecular orbitals that span the entire molecule. As a further simplifying approximation, molecular We can now specify the electronic energy of a molecule as a function of fixed nuclear (atomic) positions. This forms a potential energy surface (PES) which is a 3N-6 (N = # of orbitals are constructed as the sum of atomic orbitals χu atoms) dimentional surface describing the energy as a function of nuclear positions One Electron Wavefunction: the electronic wavefunction ψ, which is dependant on all electons can be represented as the product of individual one electron wave functions Because HF theory uses an effective electron-electron repulsion term, HF ψ(r1...rn) = φ1(r1)φ2(r2)...φn(rn) energy, EHF will always be greater than the exact energy E. The instantaneous electron-electron repulsion is referred to as electron coorelation: In order for this formulation to solve the Schrödinger equation the effect of electron- electron repulsion must be dealt with. To do this Hartree substituted the exact e-e Ecorr = E – EHF eff repulsion with an effective repulsion Vi . The exact e-e repulsion is replaced with an effective field produced by the average positions of remaining electrons. This is a This is the best-case error of HF theory major assumption. 3 Baran Lab Steven McKerrall Modern Computational Organic Chemistry Group Meeting Basis Functions & Basis Sets A single basis function is typically made up of multiple gaussian functions (GTOs) The Hartree-Fock limit, EHF, is reached only for an infinite set of atomic orbitals. in order to correct for deviations from STOs Because an inifinite set of orbitals is computationally impractical, some finite set of functions must be used to represent the atomic orbitals. This is referred to as Pople notation: for commonly employed split-valence basis sets the number of gaussian the Basis Set. functions (primatives) is described by the name The most logical starting point is to use an exact solution to the Schrödinger equation Valence For Carbon: for a hydrogen atom, a Slater-type orbital (STO). STOs are extremely problematic for double zeta computation, however, and so the use of Gaussian-type orbitals (GTO) was proposed. 6-31G Core single zeta inner outer For carbon the 6-31G basis set contains 9 basis functions (1 core, 8 valence). Each core basis function is made up of 6 GTOs, each inner valence function is made up of 3 GTOs and each outer valence function is made up of 1 GTO (22 GTOs total) Polarization functions: Because GTOs still lack some flexibility to describe electron distribution a set of polarization functions are typically added. These are typically d orbitals for heavy atoms and p orbitals for Hydrogen. The functions are not identical and so to better mimic a STO multiple GTOs are used to Carbon: mimic each STO. 6-31G(d): six d-type (Cartesian) basis functions added
Recommended publications
  • Free and Open Source Software for Computational Chemistry Education
    Free and Open Source Software for Computational Chemistry Education Susi Lehtola∗,y and Antti J. Karttunenz yMolecular Sciences Software Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States zDepartment of Chemistry and Materials Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland E-mail: [email protected].fi Abstract Long in the making, computational chemistry for the masses [J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 104] is finally here. We point out the existence of a variety of free and open source software (FOSS) packages for computational chemistry that offer a wide range of functionality all the way from approximate semiempirical calculations with tight- binding density functional theory to sophisticated ab initio wave function methods such as coupled-cluster theory, both for molecular and for solid-state systems. By their very definition, FOSS packages allow usage for whatever purpose by anyone, meaning they can also be used in industrial applications without limitation. Also, FOSS software has no limitations to redistribution in source or binary form, allowing their easy distribution and installation by third parties. Many FOSS scientific software packages are available as part of popular Linux distributions, and other package managers such as pip and conda. Combined with the remarkable increase in the power of personal devices—which rival that of the fastest supercomputers in the world of the 1990s—a decentralized model for teaching computational chemistry is now possible, enabling students to perform reasonable modeling on their own computing devices, in the bring your own device 1 (BYOD) scheme. In addition to the programs’ use for various applications, open access to the programs’ source code also enables comprehensive teaching strategies, as actual algorithms’ implementations can be used in teaching.
    [Show full text]
  • Basis Sets Running a Calculation • in Performing a Computational
    Session 2: Basis Sets • Two of the major methods (ab initio and DFT) require some understanding of basis sets and basis functions • This session describes the essentials of basis sets: – What they are – How they are constructed – How they are used – Significance in choice 1 Running a Calculation • In performing a computational chemistry calculation, the chemist has to make several decisions of input to the code: – The molecular geometry (and spin state) – The basis set used to determine the wavefunction – The properties to be calculated – The type(s) of calculations and any accompanying assumptions 2 Running a calculation •For ab initio or DFT calculations, many programs require a basis set choice to be made – The basis set is an approx- imate representation of the atomic orbitals (AOs) – The program then calculates molecular orbitals (MOs) using the Linear Combin- ation of Atomic Orbitals (LCAO) approximation 3 Computational Chemistry Map Chemist Decides: Computer calculates: Starting Molecular AOs determine the Geometry AOs O wavefunction (ψ) Basis Set (with H H ab initio and DFT) Type of Calculation LCAO (Method and Assumptions) O Properties to HH be Calculated MOs 4 Critical Choices • Choice of the method (and basis set) used is critical • Which method? • Molecular Mechanics, Ab initio, Semiempirical, or DFT • Which approximation? • MM2, MM3, HF, AM1, PM3, or B3LYP, etc. • Which basis set (if applicable)? • Minimal basis set • Split-valence • Polarized, Diffuse, High Angular Momentum, ...... 5 Why is Basis Set Choice Critical? • The
    [Show full text]
  • Rutherford's Nuclear World: the Story of the Discovery of the Nuc
    Rutherford's Nuclear World: The Story of the Discovery of the Nuc... http://www.aip.org/history/exhibits/rutherford/sections/atop-physic... HOME SECTIONS CREDITS EXHIBIT HALL ABOUT US rutherford's explore the atom learn more more history of learn about aip's nuclear world with rutherford about this site physics exhibits history programs Atop the Physics Wave ShareShareShareShareShareMore 9 RUTHERFORD BACK IN CAMBRIDGE, 1919–1937 Sections ← Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next → In 1962, John Cockcroft (1897–1967) reflected back on the “Miraculous Year” ( Annus mirabilis ) of 1932 in the Cavendish Laboratory: “One month it was the neutron, another month the transmutation of the light elements; in another the creation of radiation of matter in the form of pairs of positive and negative electrons was made visible to us by Professor Blackett's cloud chamber, with its tracks curled some to the left and some to the right by powerful magnetic fields.” Rutherford reigned over the Cavendish Lab from 1919 until his death in 1937. The Cavendish Lab in the 1920s and 30s is often cited as the beginning of modern “big science.” Dozens of researchers worked in teams on interrelated problems. Yet much of the work there used simple, inexpensive devices — the sort of thing Rutherford is famous for. And the lab had many competitors: in Paris, Berlin, and even in the U.S. Rutherford became Cavendish Professor and director of the Cavendish Laboratory in 1919, following the It is tempting to simplify a complicated story. Rutherford directed the Cavendish Lab footsteps of J.J. Thomson. Rutherford died in 1937, having led a first wave of discovery of the atom.
    [Show full text]
  • An Introduction to Hartree-Fock Molecular Orbital Theory
    An Introduction to Hartree-Fock Molecular Orbital Theory C. David Sherrill School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Georgia Institute of Technology June 2000 1 Introduction Hartree-Fock theory is fundamental to much of electronic structure theory. It is the basis of molecular orbital (MO) theory, which posits that each electron's motion can be described by a single-particle function (orbital) which does not depend explicitly on the instantaneous motions of the other electrons. Many of you have probably learned about (and maybe even solved prob- lems with) HucÄ kel MO theory, which takes Hartree-Fock MO theory as an implicit foundation and throws away most of the terms to make it tractable for simple calculations. The ubiquity of orbital concepts in chemistry is a testimony to the predictive power and intuitive appeal of Hartree-Fock MO theory. However, it is important to remember that these orbitals are mathematical constructs which only approximate reality. Only for the hydrogen atom (or other one-electron systems, like He+) are orbitals exact eigenfunctions of the full electronic Hamiltonian. As long as we are content to consider molecules near their equilibrium geometry, Hartree-Fock theory often provides a good starting point for more elaborate theoretical methods which are better approximations to the elec- tronic SchrÄodinger equation (e.g., many-body perturbation theory, single-reference con¯guration interaction). So...how do we calculate molecular orbitals using Hartree-Fock theory? That is the subject of these notes; we will explain Hartree-Fock theory at an introductory level. 2 What Problem Are We Solving? It is always important to remember the context of a theory.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Toronto University-Wide Impact Presentation
    UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO UNIVERSITY-WIDE IMPACT PRESENTATION INTRO: .......................................................................................... 2 SECTION 1: GLOBAL FOOTPRINT .............................................. 3 SECTION 2: INNOVATION AND IMPACT .................................... 15 SECTION 3: EXCELLENCE AND LEADERSHIP IN SOCIETY ..... 31 Text is not editable on animation slides. Updated May 2021 ON-SCREEN IMAGE SPEAKER’S NOTES BEGINNING OF PRESENTATION [Good afternoon]. My name is [X], and I serve as [X] at the University of Toronto. Thank you for joining us [today]. [Today] I would like to take you through a presentation that speaks to the crucial role that U of T is honoured to play in our communities and our world. U of T is a world-leading university with three campuses in the Greater Toronto Area. We provide students with a comprehensive global education, produce life-changing research, and promote economic growth and social progress in our communities. I’m going to cover three aspects: • U of T’s Global Footprint • U of T’s Innovation and Impact • U of T’s Excellence and Leadership in Society Since its very early days, U of T has been fortunate to have forged connections with institutions around the world and to have welcomed faculty and students from elsewhere to become part of the U of T community. Today, U of T’s global footprint is significant. 2 SECTION 1 GLOBAL FOOTPRINT 3 ON-SCREEN IMAGE SPEAKER’S NOTES We are immensely proud of our worldwide alumni community. Over 630,000 U of T alumni live, work and contribute to civil society in more than 190 countries and territories. Few universities in the world can rival the cultural diversity of our student population.
    [Show full text]
  • Transition State Theory. I
    MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu 5.62 Physical Chemistry II Spring 2008 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms. 5.62 Spring 2007 Lecture #33 Page 1 Transition State Theory. I. Transition State Theory = Activated Complex Theory = Absolute Rate Theory ‡ k H2 + F "! [H2F] !!" HF + H Assume equilibrium between reactants H2 + F and the transition state. [H F]‡ K‡ = 2 [H2 ][F] Treat the transition state as a molecule with structure that decays unimolecularly with rate constant k. d[HF] ‡ ‡ = k[H2F] = kK [H2 ][F] dt k has units of sec–1 (unimolecular decay). The motion along the reaction coordinate looks ‡ like an antisymmetric vibration of H2F , one-half cycle of this vibration. Therefore k can be approximated by the frequency of the antisymmetric vibration ν[sec–1] k ≈ ν ≡ frequency of antisymmetric vibration (bond formation and cleavage looks like antisymmetric vibration) d[HF] = νK‡ [H2] [F] dt ! ‡* $ d[HF] (q / N) 'E‡ /kT [ ] = ν # *H F &e [H2 ] F dt "#(q 2 N)(q / N)%& ! ‡ $ ‡ ‡* ‡ (q / N) ' q *' q *' g * ‡ K‡ = # trans &) rot ,) vib ,) 0 ,e-E kT H2 qH2 ) q*H2 , gH2 gF "# (qtrans N) %&( rot +( vib +( 0 0 + ‡ Reaction coordinate is antisymmetric vibrational mode of H2F . This vibration is fully excited (high T limit) because it leads to the cleavage of the H–H bond and the formation of the H–F bond. For a fully excited vibration hν kT The vibrational partition function for the antisymmetric mode is revised 4/24/08 3:50 PM 5.62 Spring 2007 Lecture #33 Page 2 1 kT q*asym = ' since e–hν/kT ≈ 1 – hν/kT vib 1! e!h" kT h! Note that this is an incredibly important simplification.
    [Show full text]
  • Transition State Analysis of the Reaction Catalyzed by the Phosphotriesterase from Sphingobium Sp
    Article Cite This: Biochemistry 2019, 58, 1246−1259 pubs.acs.org/biochemistry Transition State Analysis of the Reaction Catalyzed by the Phosphotriesterase from Sphingobium sp. TCM1 † † † ‡ ‡ Andrew N. Bigley, Dao Feng Xiang, Tamari Narindoshvili, Charlie W. Burgert, Alvan C. Hengge,*, † and Frank M. Raushel*, † Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, United States ‡ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322, United States *S Supporting Information ABSTRACT: Organophosphorus flame retardants are stable toxic compounds used in nearly all durable plastic products and are considered major emerging pollutants. The phospho- triesterase from Sphingobium sp. TCM1 (Sb-PTE) is one of the few enzymes known to be able to hydrolyze organo- phosphorus flame retardants such as triphenyl phosphate and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate. The effectiveness of Sb-PTE for the hydrolysis of these organophosphates appears to arise from its ability to hydrolyze unactivated alkyl and phenolic esters from the central phosphorus core. How Sb-PTE is able to catalyze the hydrolysis of the unactivated substituents is not known. To interrogate the catalytic hydrolysis mechanism of Sb-PTE, the pH dependence of the reaction and the effects of changing the solvent viscosity were determined. These experiments were complemented by measurement of the primary and ff ff secondary 18-oxygen isotope e ects on substrate hydrolysis and a determination of the e ects of changing the pKa of the leaving group on the magnitude of the rate constants for hydrolysis. Collectively, the results indicated that a single group must be ionized for nucleophilic attack and that a separate general acid is not involved in protonation of the leaving group.
    [Show full text]
  • Lecture Outline a Closer Look at Carbocation Stabilities and SN1/E1 Reaction Rates We Learned That an Important Factor in the SN
    Lecture outline A closer look at carbocation stabilities and SN1/E1 reaction rates We learned that an important factor in the SN1/E1 reaction pathway is the stability of the carbocation intermediate. The more stable the carbocation, the faster the reaction. But how do we know anything about the stabilities of carbocations? After all, they are very unstable, high-energy species that can't be observed directly under ordinary reaction conditions. In protic solvents, carbocations typically survive only for picoseconds (1 ps - 10–12s). Much of what we know (or assume we know) about carbocation stabilities comes from measurements of the rates of reactions that form them, like the ionization of an alkyl halide in a polar solvent. The key to connecting reaction rates (kinetics) with the stability of high-energy intermediates (thermodynamics) is the Hammond postulate. The Hammond postulate says that if two consecutive structures on a reaction coordinate are similar in energy, they are also similar in structure. For example, in the SN1/E1 reactions, we know that the carbocation intermediate is much higher in energy than the alkyl halide reactant, so the transition state for the ionization step must lie closer in energy to the carbocation than the alkyl halide. The Hammond postulate says that the transition state should therefore resemble the carbocation in structure. So factors that stabilize the carbocation also stabilize the transition state leading to it. Here are two examples of rxn coordinate diagrams for the ionization step that are reasonable and unreasonable according to the Hammond postulate. We use the Hammond postulate frequently in making assumptions about the nature of transition states and how reaction rates should be influenced by structural features in the reactants or products.
    [Show full text]
  • Computational Chemistry
    G UEST E DITORS’ I NTRODUCTION COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY omputational chemistry has come of chemical, physical, and biological phenomena. age. With significant strides in com- The Nobel Prize award to John Pople and Wal- puter hardware and software over ter Kohn in 1998 highlighted the importance of the last few decades, computational these advances in computational chemistry. Cchemistry has achieved full partnership with the- With massively parallel computers capable of ory and experiment as a tool for understanding peak performance of several teraflops already on and predicting the behavior of a broad range of the scene and with the development of parallel software for efficient exploitation of these high- end computers, we can anticipate that computa- tional chemistry will continue to change the scientific landscape throughout the coming cen- tury. The impact of these advances will be broad and encompassing, because chemistry is so cen- tral to the myriad of advances we anticipate in areas such as materials design, biological sci- ences, and chemical manufacturing. Application areas Materials design is very broad in scope. It ad- dresses a diverse range of compositions of matter that can better serve structural and functional needs in all walks of life. Catalytic design is one such example that clearly illustrates the promise and challenges of computational chemistry. Al- most all chemical reactions of industrial or bio- chemical significance are catalytic. Yet, catalysis is still more of an art (at best) or an empirical fact than a design science. But this is sure to change. A recent American Chemical Society Sympo- sium volume on transition state modeling in catalysis illustrates its progress.1 This sympo- sium highlighted a significant development in the level of modeling that researchers are em- 1521-9615/00/$10.00 © 2000 IEEE ploying as they focus more and more on the DONALD G.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Article (PDF)
    Conference Call nected fields: from the isolated molecule to whole Malta III—Research and cellular systems, from the structure and reactivity of simple biological molecules to the investigation Education in the Middle East of the functionality of enzymes, nucleic acids, and by John M. Malin membranes, from looking at the fundamental physics underlying simple molecular processes to uses in clini- cal biochemistry. Known as “Malta III,” the third conference in the The participation of well-known specialists in dif- series, Frontiers of Chemical Sciences: Research and ferent domains of infrared spectroscopy provided a Education in the Middle East, was held in Istanbul, complete overview about the full potential of the tech- Turkey, from 8–13 December 2007. This remarkable nology. In this sense, it is worth mentioning the inter- series of meetings continues to bring scientists from esting lectures of Henry Mantsch, Dieter Naumann, Middle Eastern countries and other nations together Jürgen Schmitt, Rui Fausto, Ronald Birke, Urs Peter to discuss common problems and encourage col- Fringeli, José Luis Arrondo, Jean-Marie Ruysschaert, laborative research in the fields of energy, materials and Klaus Brandenburg among many others, which science, natural products, green chemistry, education, provided different points of views on the potential of and environment. FTIR. These perspectives definitely enriched the dis- Middle Eastern participation in Malta III was the cussions after each session. largest yet of the three conferences, named for the At the same time, the informal ambience of this island of Malta where the first two meetings were event also helped stimulate the interaction among held. Of the 90 participants, 67 were from Middle participants.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Report 2010-12
    RESEARCH REPORt 2010—2012 MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Cover: Aurora borealis paintings by William Crowder, National Geographic (1947). The International Geophysical Year (1957–8) transformed research on the aurora, one of nature’s most elusive and intensely beautiful phenomena. Aurorae became the center of interest for the big science of powerful rockets, complex satellites and large group efforts to understand the magnetic and charged particle environment of the earth. The auroral visoplot displayed here provided guidance for recording observations in a standardized form, translating the sublime aesthetics of pictorial depictions of aurorae into the mechanical aesthetics of numbers and symbols. Most of the portait photographs were taken by Skúli Sigurdsson RESEARCH REPORT 2010—2012 MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Introduction The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) is made up of three Departments, each administered by a Director, and several Independent Research Groups, each led for five years by an outstanding junior scholar. Since its foundation in 1994 the MPIWG has investigated fundamental questions of the history of knowl- edge from the Neolithic to the present. The focus has been on the history of the natu- ral sciences, but recent projects have also integrated the history of technology and the history of the human sciences into a more panoramic view of the history of knowl- edge. Of central interest is the emergence of basic categories of scientific thinking and practice as well as their transformation over time: examples include experiment, ob- servation, normalcy, space, evidence, biodiversity or force.
    [Show full text]
  • Cambridge's 92 Nobel Prize Winners Part 4 - 1996 to 2015: from Stem Cell Breakthrough to IVF
    Cambridge's 92 Nobel Prize winners part 4 - 1996 to 2015: from stem cell breakthrough to IVF By Cambridge News | Posted: February 01, 2016 Some of Cambridge's most recent Nobel winners Over the last four weeks the News has been rounding up all of Cambridge's 92 Nobel Laureates, which this week comes right up to the present day. From the early giants of physics like JJ Thomson and Ernest Rutherford to the modern-day biochemists unlocking the secrets of our genome, we've covered the length and breadth of scientific discovery, as well as hugely influential figures in economics, literature and politics. What has stood out is the importance of collaboration; while outstanding individuals have always shone, Cambridge has consistently achieved where experts have come together to bounce their ideas off each other. Key figures like Max Perutz, Alan Hodgkin and Fred Sanger have not only won their own Nobels, but are regularly cited by future winners as their inspiration, as their students went on to push at the boundaries they established. In the final part of our feature we cover the last 20 years, when Cambridge has won an average of a Nobel Prize a year, and shows no sign of slowing down, with ground-breaking research still taking place in our midst today. The Gender Pay Gap Sale! Shop Online to get 13.9% off From 8 - 11 March, get 13.9% off 1,000s of items, it highlights the pay gap between men & women in the UK. Shop the Gender Pay Gap Sale – now. Promoted by Oxfam 1.1996 James Mirrlees, Trinity College: Prize in Economics, for studying behaviour in the absence of complete information As a schoolboy in Galloway, Scotland, Mirrlees was in line for a Cambridge scholarship, but was forced to change his plans when on the weekend of his interview he was rushed to hospital with peritonitis.
    [Show full text]