Herbert A. Hauptman
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Herbert A. Hauptman
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1985
Born: 14 February 1917, New York, NY, USA
Died: 23 October 2011, Buffalo, NY, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: The Medical Foundation of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA
Prize motivation: “for their outstanding achievements in the development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
When mapping the molecular structure of molecules, it is important to study how X-rays, electromagnetic waves with a short wavelength, are bent by a crystal. What is important is the ray’s direction, intensity and phase—how the wave crests are displaced. During the first part of the 1950s, Herbert Hauptman and Jerome Karle developed a system of equations that used measurements of the rays’ intensity to determine their phases. This made direct determination of molecular structures possible.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
