Spinach on the Ceiling

'Karplus's tales of a turbulent graduate school experience at Caltech will inspire readers to muster fortitude when everything seems to be spinning out of control. Karplus balances rigorous scientific discussions with refreshing chapters expounding his passion for photography and gastronomy.'Alfred ChinNature Chemistry, May 2020Nobel Laureate Martin Karplus was eight when his family fled Nazi-occupied Austria via Switzerland and France for the United States. He would later credit his life as a refugee as a decisive influence on his world view and approach to science.Spinach on the Ceiling is an autobiographical telling of Karplus' life story, and how it led him to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013. The book captures pivotal moments in Martin's life — from his escape to Switzerland in 1938 shortly after Hitler's entrance into Austria; to memorable moments like when his parents gave him a microscope which opened his eyes to the wonders of science; to his education in New England and California; and his eventual scientific career which took him to England, Illinois, Columbia, Strasbourg, and Harvard. It relates how Martin's optimistic outlook and belief in his vision made it possible for him to overcome setbacks in his life, and turn a subject of study his colleagues considered a waste of time into a central part of chemistry and structural biology. It is his hope to inspire and aid young readers, in particular, to have a successful trajectory in their own lives. Although research and teaching have been his primary focus, he has traveled the world photographing people and places with a Leica IIIC and has had numerous exhibitions of the photographs. He has also enjoyed a lifelong interest in cooking and worked in some of the best restaurants in France and Spain.Contents: PrefaceAcknowledgmentsMy AncestorsChildhood Years in EuropeFinal Days in EuropeA New Life in AmericaBeginning of Scientific InterestsCollege YearsGraduate SchoolPostdoctoral Sojourn in Oxford and EuropeUniversity of Illinois: NMR and Coupling ConstantsMove to Columbia and Focus on Reaction KineticsThe FBI and IReturn to Harvard University and BiologyMove to ParisProtein Folding, Hemoglobin and the CHARMM ProgramThe First Molecular Dynamics Simulation of a BiomoleculeEarly Applications of Molecular DynamicsMy Career as a PhotographerHow We Came to Move to StrasbourgMy Life as a ChefAnnouncement of the Nobel PrizeAfter the AnnouncementThe Nobel Prize EventScience After the Nobel Prize SimulationLife After the Nobel PrizeReferencesAppendices:Karplusians: 1955–2019Martin Karplus: LIFE IN COLOR — From the 1940s to 2019Nobel LectureHaaretz ArticleSupplementary MaterialIndex
Readership: A wide range of readers including students, scientists, historians, science enthusiasts, people interested in the Nobel Prize, Nobel Laureates, and the lives of people who escaped from Nazi Austria.Martin Karplus;Nobel Prize;Spinach on the Ceiling;Chemistry;Autobiography;CHARMM;Hemoglobin;Molecular Dynamics;NMR;Coupling Constants;Theoretical Chemistry;Reaction Kinetics;Biomolecular Simulations;BPTI;Photography;FBI;Allostery;Molecular Motors;F1 ATPase;Protein Folding;Enzyme Catalysis;cooking;Oxford;Europe00