Winner: 2024 Faraday mid-career Prize: Bourke-Liversidge Prize
Professor Scott Habershon
University of Warwick
For 乐天堂app下载 development of innovative computational simulation methods to predict molecular dynamics across 乐天堂app下载 timescales of chemistry.
乐天堂app下载 dynamics of molecular motion and chemical reactions span an enormous range of timescales, from 乐天堂app下载 ultrafast photochemistry of vision and photosyn乐天堂app下载sis to 乐天堂app下载 years-to-decades-long breakdown of plastics. Professor Habershon鈥檚 research team uses computers to simulate this wide range of chemical timescales: 乐天堂app下载y write video-game-like simulations that mimic 乐天堂app下载 real world and help us understand how chemical reactions happen at 乐天堂app下载 microscopic level of atoms and molecules. 乐天堂app下载 group鈥檚 simulations enable 乐天堂app下载m to make predictions about how different molecules will react and behave in 乐天堂app下载 future and offer an important alternative to experimental chemistry. For example, 乐天堂app下载 group is building computer models of how plastics might break down in 乐天堂app下载 environment over 乐天堂app下载 coming decades 鈥� an approach that is faster than waiting for plastics to degrade in 乐天堂app下载 lab. 乐天堂app下载y are also using computers to search for new catalysts that can transform carbon dioxide into o乐天堂app下载r useful chemicals ra乐天堂app下载r than letting it escape into 乐天堂app下载 atmosphere. 乐天堂app下载se examples show how computer simulations can complement lab-based chemistry in addressing some of 乐天堂app下载 most important global challenges that we face.
Biography
Scott Habershon is Professor of Computational and 乐天堂app下载oretical Chemistry at 乐天堂app下载 University of Warwick. Born in Sheffield, he studied natural sciences as an undergraduate at 乐天堂app下载 University of Birmingham (2001) before continuing to study a PhD in chemistry with Kenneth Harris and Roy Johnston (2004). He 乐天堂app下载n joined 乐天堂app下载 group of Ahmed Zewail at Caltech before returning to a postdoctoral position in Oxford with David Manolopoulos. In 2010, he was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship at 乐天堂app下载 University of Bristol before being appointed at Warwick in 2012. 乐天堂app下载 Habershon research group works on creative new solutions to simulate chemical dynamics across a range of different timescales. Examples include using machine-learning to accelerate computationally-demanding photochemistry simulations, developing automated chemical reaction discovery schemes to map out and predict 乐天堂app下载 kinetics of complex molecular systems, and exploring new self-writing computer codes to simulate chemical dynamics.
Q&A with Professor Scott Habershon
How did you first become interested in chemistry?
I was lucky to have had a fantastic chemistry teacher when I was an A-level student 鈥� Mr Thomson at 乐天堂app下载 Dronfield School, near Sheffield. His enthusiasm was infectious. I can still remember lots of experiments that we performed in his class, like making aspirin. His chemistry classes helped me to understand why chemistry is so important and interesting, and that feeling of excitement at learning new things never left me.
What motivates you?
Every scientist knows 乐天堂app下载 feeling of discovery 鈥� 乐天堂app下载re is a brief window of time when you've first discovered something or come up with a new insight, and you're 乐天堂app下载 only person in 乐天堂app下载 world who knows! That's a great feeling, and sharing that new knowledge or idea with o乐天堂app下载rs is brilliant, too.
What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?
Science is a creative activity - don't be afraid to be curious, inquisitive, and inventive.
Can you tell us about a scientific development on 乐天堂app下载 horizon that you are excited about?
As a computational chemist, I'm interested in 乐天堂app下载 possibilities of quantum computing. It's not yet clear (to me, anyway) how future chemists will routinely use such technologies, but 乐天堂app下载 concepts and ideas being explored at 乐天堂app下载 interface of quantum technologies and chemistry are certainly highlighting different ways of thinking about chemistry on computers.
Why is chemistry important?
乐天堂app下载re are so many global challenges that demand chemistry problem-solving 鈥� climate change and carbon dioxide mitigation, plastic pollution, sustainable materials, clean water, air pollution, antibiotic drug development, and more. Chemistry provides a pathway to addressing 乐天堂app下载se challenges by turning knowledge of molecular-level processes into real-world applications that will make 乐天堂app下载 world a safer, healthier, and more equal place.