Agilent awards Excellence in NMR

Martin Karplus, Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University; and Laboratoire de Chimie Biophysique, ISIS, Université Louis Pasteur, has received the 2010 Russell Varian Prize awarded by Agilent Technologies for his paper, ‘Contact Electron-Spin Coupling of Nuclear Magnetic Moments’*.

Dr Karplus’ ground-breaking work, which was done in the late 1950s and early 1960s, set the stage for a generation of researchers to take his theoretical idea and refine it to the point that it is now considered one of the most valuable measurements available for determining chemical structure directly from NMR spectra. The calculations are eponymously called the ‘Karplus equations’. Many applications have been developed over the years covering all areas of NMR. The applications are used routinely by pharmaceutical research as well as national laboratories studying biological phenomena.

“I am honoured to receive the Russell Varian Prize this year particularly because, unlike previous recipients, I am not an NMR spectroscopist,” said Professor Karplus. “My theoretical work has benefited greatly from NMR, as have my collaborations with experimentalists in the field.” The award was presented at the International Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems (ICMRBS), held during August in Cairns, Australia. *J. Chem. Phys. 30, 11-15 (1959).