Chemistry, Computer Science and the Nobel Prize

There is no Nobel Prize in Computer Science. We do have the Turing Award which is as close as we get. It’s not as well known as the Nobel Prize though so when scientists get recognized by the Nobel Committee for work that is heavily involved in computing it is a big deal for those of us who care about computer science. That happened this week when three men were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Three win Nobel prize for taking chemistry into cyberspace

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, awarding the prize of 8 million crowns ($1.25 million) to Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel, said their work had effectively taken chemistry into cyberspace. Long gone were the days of modeling reactions using plastic balls and sticks.

"Today the computer is just as important a tool for chemists as the test tube," the academy said in a statement. "Computer models mirroring real life have become crucial for most advances made in chemistry today.

Computing is involved in pretty much all fields today. In many fields, Chemistry included, computing and software that helps with things like simulations makes a lot of research possible that would be otherwise impossible. Students who are interested in Science careers today really need to have some understanding of computer science. They are going to need it!