Herbert Aaron Hauptman (February 14, 1917 – October 23, 2011) was an American mathematician and

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

. He pioneered and developed a mathematical method that has changed the whole field of

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and opened a new era in research in determination of molecular structures of crystallized materials. Today, Hauptman's direct methods, which he continued to improve and refine, are routinely used to solve complicated structures. It was the application of this mathematical method to a wide variety of chemical structures that led the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

to name Hauptman and Jerome Karle recipients of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Life

He was born in to a Jewish family in New York City, the oldest child of Leah (Rosenfeld) and Israel Hauptman. He was married to Edith Citrynell since November 10, 1940, with two daughters, Barbara (1947) and Carol (1950). He was interested in science and mathematics from an early age which he pursued at Townsend Harris High School, graduated from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

(1937) and obtained an M.A. degree in mathematics from Columbia University in 1939. After the war he started a collaboration with Jerome Karle at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. and at the same time enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1955 in physics, which is part of the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. This combination of mathematics and physical chemistry expertise enabled them to tackle head-on the phase problem of X-ray crystallography. His work on this problem was criticized because, at the time, the problem was believed unsolvable. By 1955 he had received his Ph.D. in mathematics, and they had laid the foundations of the direct methods in X-ray crystallography. Their 1953 monograph, "Solution of the Phase Problem I. The Centrosymmetric Crystal", contained the main ideas, the most important of which was the introduction of

probabilistic Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an Event (probability theory), event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and ...

methods through a development of the

Sayre equation In crystallography, the Sayre equation, named after David Sayre who introduced it in 1952, is a mathematical relationship that allows one to calculate probable values for the phases of some diffracted beams. It is used when employing direct met ...

. In 1970 he joined the crystallographic group of the

Medical Foundation of Buffalo Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care prac ...

of which he was Research Director in 1972. During the early years of this period he formulated the neighborhood principle and extension concept. These theories were further developed during the following decades. In 2003, as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and secular humanist, he was one of 22 Nobel laureates who signed the Humanist Manifesto.

Works

Hauptman has authored over 170 publications, including journal articles, research papers, chapters and books. In 1970, Hauptman joined the crystallographic group of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (formerly the Medical Foundation of Buffalo) of which he became Research Director in 1972. Until his death, he served as President of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute as well as Research Professor in the Department of Biophysical Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University at Buffalo. Prior to coming to Buffalo, he worked as a mathematician and supervisor in various departments at the Naval Research Laboratory from 1947. He received his B.S. from

, M.S. from Columbia University and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Awards and titles

*Belden Prize in Mathematics,

, 1936 *Scientific Research Society of America, Pure Science Award, Naval Research Laboratory, 1959 *President, Philosophical Society of Washington, 1969–1970 *President of the Association of Independent Research Institutes, 1979–1980 *Patterson Award in 1984 given by the American Crystallographic Association * Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1985 (jointly with Jerome Karle) *Honorary degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1985 *Honorary degree from CCNY in 1986 *Citizen of the Year Award, Buffalo Evening News, 1986 *Norton Medal, SUNY, 1986 *Schoellkopf Award, American Chemical Society (Western New York Chapter) 1986 *Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, 1986 *Cooke Award, SUNY, 1987 *Establishment of the Eccles-Hauptman Student Award, SUNY in 1987 *Election to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1988 *Humanist Laureate Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union in 1988 *Honorary degree from the University of Parma, Italy in 1989 *Honorary degree from the D'Youville College, Buffalo, New York in 1989 *Honorary degree from Bar-Ilan University, Israel in 1990 *Honorary degree from Columbia University in 1990 *Honorary degree from

Technical University of Lodz Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

, Poland in 1992 *Honorary degree from Queen's University, Kingston, Canada in 1993 *Honorary degree from SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York in 2009

References

External links

*
Dr Hauptman's CV
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090124000656/http://buffalofilmfestival.com/aboutus/artsandscienceadvisors.html Board of Science Advisors, The Buffalo International Film Festival, Buffalo, NY, United States] {{DEFAULTSORT:Hauptman, Herbert A. 1917 births 2011 deaths Nobel laureates in Chemistry American Nobel laureates Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American people of German-Jewish descent Jewish American scientists Jewish chemists Jewish American atheists Columbia University alumni American physical chemists University of Maryland, College Park alumni City College of New York alumni Townsend Harris High School alumni Secular humanists Mathematicians from New York (state)