Meet Michael Levitt (Physics, 1967)

Michael Levitt (Physics, 1967) is a renowned biophysicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013.

Born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, Michael found school unstimulating and decided to take his matriculation exams two years early. With the help of a personal tutor, he prepared over the summer and began studying Applied Maths at Pretoria University at just 16 years old.

After his first year, Michael spent a vacation with his aunt and uncle in England, both of whom were accomplished chemists. He enjoyed his time there so much that he decided to stay and pursue his studies in England. After completing his A-levels, he enrolled at King’s College London to study Physics, drawn in part by the biophysics research of Maurice Wilkins, a recent Nobel Prize winner.

Michael’s interest in the emerging field of computer science led him to spend the summer of 1966 at the Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California, where he developed programs using punched cards for early computers.

Following his graduation, Michael moved to Israel to work at the Weizmann Institute, where he met his wife Rina. In 1968, they moved to Cambridge, where Michael began his PhD. Throughout his early career, Michael worked between Israel and the UK, utilising computers to model chemical structures and processes.

In 1987, Michael became a Professor at Stanford University, where he established his own research group and collaborated with industry to advance his work.

Michael was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 2000 and the US National Academy of Sciences in 2001. In 2013, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, alongside Martin Karplus and Arieh Warshel, for their development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems. These models form the basis of modern computational chemistry. King’s awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2014.

Fun fact: While completing his PhD in Cambridge, Michael built large molecular models at home, including a 60lb RNA model, which he had to lower out of the window when his first son, Daniel, was on the way.

Sources:

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/m-levitt2