Nadrian C. "Ned" Seeman (December 16, 1945 – November 16, 2021) was an American

nanotechnologist Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal of ...

and crystallographer known for inventing the field of

DNA nanotechnology DNA nanotechnology is the design and manufacture of artificial nucleic acid structures for technological uses. In this field, nucleic acids are used as non-biological engineering materials for nanotechnology rather than as the carriers of geneti ...

Biography

Seeman studied biochemistry at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

and crystallography at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. He became a faculty member at the

State University of New York at Albany The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

, and in 1988 moved to the Department of Chemistry at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He is most noted for his development of the concept of

beginning in the early 1980s. In fall 1980, while at a campus pub, Seeman was inspired by the

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

woodcut ''Depth'' to realize that a three-dimensional lattice could be constructed from DNA. He realized that this could be used to orient target molecules, simplifying their crystallographic study by eliminating the difficult process of obtaining pure crystals. In pursuit of this goal, Seeman's laboratory published the synthesis of the first three-dimensional nanoscale object, a cube made of DNA, in 1991. This work won the 1995

Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology The Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology is an award given by the Foresight Institute for significant advances in nanotechnology. Two prizes are awarded annually, in the categories of experimental and theoretical work. There is also a separate chall ...

. The concept of the dissimilar double DNA crossover introduced by Seeman, was important stepping stone towards the development of

DNA origami DNA origami is the nanoscale folding of DNA to create arbitrary two- and three-dimensional shapes at the nanoscale. The specificity of the interactions between complementary base pairs make DNA a useful construction material, through design of ...

. The goal of demonstrating designed three-dimensional DNA crystals was achieved by Seeman in 2009, nearly thirty years after his original elucidation of the idea. The concepts of DNA nanotechnology later found further applications in

DNA computing DNA computing is an emerging branch of unconventional computing which uses DNA, biochemistry, and molecular biology hardware, instead of the traditional electronic computing. Research and development in this area concerns theory, experiments, a ...

, DNA nanorobotics, and

self-assembly Self-assembly is a process in which a disordered system of pre-existing components forms an organized structure or pattern as a consequence of specific, local interactions among the components themselves, without external direction. When the ...

nanoelectronics Nanoelectronics refers to the use of nanotechnology in electronic components. The term covers a diverse set of devices and materials, with the common characteristic that they are so small that inter-atomic interactions and quantum mechanical pr ...

. He shared the

Kavli Prize The Kavli Prize was established in 2005 as a joint venture of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Kavli Foundation. It honors, supports, and recognizes scientists for outstand ...

in Nanoscience 2010 with Donald Eigler “for their development of unprecedented methods to control matter on the nanoscale.” He was a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Univer ...

. He was an atheist. Seeman died on November 16, 2021, at the age of 75.

Notable publications

* —Considered to be the earliest paper outlining the concepts of DNA nanotechnology * —The synthesis of the DNA cube * —The synthesis of two-dimensional periodic lattices of double crossover molecules * —The first DNA-based nanomechanical device * —A popular science article explaining the field of DNA nanotechnology * —The synthesis of three-dimensional periodic lattices of tensegrity triangle molecules * —A DNA-based molecular assembly line

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seeman, Nadrian 1945 births 2021 deaths American crystallographers American atheists New York University faculty University of Chicago alumni University of Pittsburgh alumni DNA nanotechnology people University at Albany, SUNY faculty Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Kavli Prize laureates in Nanoscience

Biography

Notable publications

See also

References

External links