A computational account of Nobel Prize history

The contributions of the computational science community to Nobel Prizes in chemistry and physics take center stage in this month’s Focus issue.

Dr Lu Sham, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of California, San Diego, talks with Nature Computational Science about his current research, the density functional theory (DFT) work that was recognized by the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry — awarded to his co-author Dr Walter Kohn — and where he thinks the field is heading.

Dr Martin Head-Gordon, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, talks with Nature Computational Science about his research on electronic structure theory, quantum chemistry software development, applications in renewable energy, as well as his time working with John Pople, who was recognized by the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Dr Saul Perlmutter, a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and a 2011 Nobel laureate in physics, discusses the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe and the essential role of computing in this field of research.

Dr Arieh Warshel, distinguished professor of chemistry at the University of Southern California and 2013 Nobel laureate in chemistry, discusses with Nature Computational Science past and current research, his Nobel Prize, and the benefits and challenges of using computational modeling in his work.

Dr John Wettlaufer, A. M. Bateman Professor of Geophysics, Mathematics, and Physics at Yale University, research professor at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, and a member of the Nobel Committee for Physics, discusses the contributions from the laureates of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, his insights into complex system modeling, and his personal experience serving as a Nobel Committee member.

The focus on quantum materials has raised questions on the fitness of density functional theory for the description of the basic physics of such strongly correlated systems. Recent studies point to another possibility: the perceived limitations are often not a failure of the density functional theory per se, but rather a failure to break symmetry.

CRISPR has revolutionized biomedical and bioengineering research as a programmable genome engineering technology. Computational tools have been integral throughout the discovery of CRISPR biology and the development of CRISPR-based technologies that hold promise to solve many challenges ahead.

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics recognized the importance of climate modeling and its role in explaining anthropogenic effects on climate change and global warming. To further understand our Earth’s climates, computational models pose new challenges to account for various complexities.