Carlo Jerome

Carlo, Jerome (Karle, Jerome) (p. 1918) (USA). Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1985 (jointly with H. Hauptmann).

Born June 18, 1918 in New York, the son of Louis Charles and Sadie (Caen) Karfankl. He grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from high school in 1933, Abraham Lincoln. Then he studied at New York's City College, where he met his future colleague, Herbert A. Hauptmann, a student from the Bronx. In college he studied mainly chemistry and biology, and in 1937 received a bachelor's degree. He continued his education at Harvard University, where a year later he was awarded a master's degree in biology.

During the next fifteen years, Carl worked at the State Administration of Health in New York and then entered the University of Michigan. In 1943 became a master of science and for a thesis on gas electron received his doctorate in physical chemistry.

During the Second World War, Charles was a member of a research project naval forces of the USA, and later - as an assistant researcher of the Manhattan Project - research on the bomb. After the war, in 1946, joined the staff of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. Here he again met with Hauptmann. 1950 went to Charles under the sign of their cooperation: both worked on the creation of a direct method of decoding three-dimensional molecular structures using X-ray crystallography.

X-ray analysis is used to determine the spatial configuration of the molecules under the influence of X-rays on pure crystal substance.

When the X-ray beam is directed onto the crystal substance, some rays pass through the crystal, while others have been rejected under the influence of the electrons of atomic nuclei. Rejected rays are recorded on photographic film in the form of thousands of spots, forming a characteristic pattern. This figure is vaguely reminiscent of the exact distribution of atoms inside the crystal. Available for research methods require time consuming analysis of the spots recorded on photographic film.

By analyzing the intensity of point spots on photographic film and the location of points and Karl Hauptmann managed by applying mathematical formulas to calculate the phase of X-ray beam, ie. the extent to which deviated each beam passing through the crystal. Based on these calculations was a map of the electron density of the crystal, which shows the exact location of the atoms and, hence, gave a picture of the molecular structure of matter. The method, developed by Karle and Hauptmann, is able to directly relate the intensity and location of points with an arrangement of atoms within a molecule.

In 1953, Charles and Hauptman published an article on the results of their work. It is extremely difficult, . rich mathematical formulas essay, . seemed, . was not relevant to chemistry, . and its applicability to solve structural problems was met with skepticism, . if not with hostility by many scientists, . administering the crystallography,
. The most significant barrier to the adoption of the method is the fact that few chemists versed in the mathematical aspects of the proposed procedure. As a result, Charles and Hauptman did not receive any support from other researchers in this field, and direct method of decoding structures remained without the use of over 15 years.

The most significant contribution made by Charles and Hauptmann in this area since 1956, was in the practical application of these method, especially for crystals, which do not possess axial symmetry.

Recognition of the work done by scientists came only in the late 1960's, when his wife Carla, Isabella, physical chemist and member of the naval research base, applied their method of practice in the analysis of large molecules. The results of her experiments have convinced experts in the field of crystallography in the utility and high degree of accuracy of the direct method of decoding structures.

The methods that have developed and Charles Hauptman, led to major advances in the field of crystallography and are now one system, which is used in the analysis of the majority of new compounds. They practically used for the study of large complex organic molecules involved in the metabolism. Xauptman and Carla created a mathematical method to determine the spatial structure of molecular crystals such important substances such as hormones, antibiotics and vitamins

. The method of Carle and Xauptmana reduced the time, . necessary to recreate the spatial (three dimensional) structure, . with the months (and sometimes several years) to one or two days, . that became possible in 1980 after the development of appropriate computer software,
.

In 1968, the research laboratory of the naval forces of the USA was established specifically for Charles as head of research, and he headed the laboratory structure of matter.

Continuing to conduct research in the laboratory of the Navy, Charles from time to time he lectured on mathematics and physics at the University of Maryland College. Lectured in the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, Poland, Brazil and Japan, and, moreover, led the Washington Monthly Colloquium on crystals in the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution.

In 1985, Charles and H. Hauptmann was awarded the Nobel Prize 'for outstanding achievements in the development of the direct method of decoding structures'.