| 1 | Name: | Dr. Raphael David Levine | |
| Institution: | Hebrew University | ||
| Year Elected: | 1996 | ||
| Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | ||
| Residency: | International | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1938 | ||
Raphael Levine is Max Born Professor of Natural Philosophy at Hebrew University. He describes his work like so: "A central concern of Chemistry is the transformation of matter to create new materials. We call such transmutations 'chemical reactions'. I try to understand what makes chemical reactions go. I also seek to view them on the most highly resolved level, that of the actual molecules undergoing the change. As the starting materials evolve into the products, how do the atoms move, what energetic constraints operate and are there any steric requirements. I am a theorist but I do attempt to find out what are the concerns of my experimental colleagues. Currently the systems we study are larger than before and we are able to explore further away from equilibrium. One line of such activity is chemistry under extreme conditions. We are also able to take into account inherently quantum mechanical features such as when processes occur simultaneously on several electronic states (so called, the breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation)." His most recent book, Molecular Reaction Dynamics (2005) provides more details. Dr. Levine's research methods include molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanical methods. Often he seeks a more compact description. For this, methodologies based on information theory and on algebraic quantum mechanics are useful. In particular, they provide methods of data reduction (e.g., surprisal analysis) which can also be used in a predictive model. He prefers models that emphasize key aspects of the problem and allow for a simple conceptual picture of the dynamics as much as exact numerical simulations. He also indulges in examining more abstract issues. | |||