2013 Chemistry Nobel Laureate Visits ShanghaiTech

Professor Michael Levitt, 2013 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry for “The development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems,” visited ShanghaiTech from October 30thto 31st. Levitt is also a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), Member of the US National Academy of Sciences and Member of the US National Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Born in South Africa in 1947, Professor Levitt got his PhD degree from the Cambridge Laboratory of Molecular Biology.He has worked at the Weizmann Institute, in Israel, collaborating with Arieh Warshel on multi-scale modeling, and also spent time working at LMB and with Francis Crick at Salk Institute, before moving to structural biology at Stanford in 1987.

ShanghaiTech President Jiang Mianheng extended a warm welcome to Professor Levitt and introduced to him the university, touring him around the ShanghaiTech-Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies (SIAIS) and iHuman institute and visiting School of Life Science and Technology, School of Physical Science and Technology, VR Lab in School of Information Science and Technology as well as the ShanghaiTech Library. He appreciated the vision of ShanghaiTech and its beautiful campus and said he expected to continue an in-depth cooperation with ShanghaiTech.

During his visit, Professor Michael Levitt delivered a lecture titled “Hybrid Multiscale Models for Simulating Functional Motion in Macromolecular” to ShanghaiTech faculty and students, and gave a talk on“Is Basic Science Needed for Significant and Fundamental Discoveries” for representatives from eight top high schools in Shanghai at the invitation of ShanghaiTech residential college. He stressed the importance of basic science and said he expected to see more and more young scholars ushering in scientific innovations and breakthroughs.