Photo credit: Dave Pape — File:Herbert Hauptman - UB 2009.jpg (Wikimedia Commons) · Public domain
Herbert A. Hauptman
1917–2011 · United States · 20th century
Nobel Chemistry 1985
American mathematician-chemist whose direct methods made X-ray crystal-structure determination routine for small molecules.
Nobel Prize work
With Jerome Karle, Hauptman developed the direct methods that solve the crystallographic phase problem mathematically, deriving phase information straight from measured diffraction intensities. The equations, embedded in standard software, turned crystal-structure determination of small molecules from an art into a routine, enormously accelerating chemistry and biology.