Herbert Aaron Hauptman (February 14, 1917 – October 23, 2011)[2] was an Americanmathematician andNobel laureate.[3] He pioneered and developed a mathematical method that has changed the whole field ofchemistry and opened a new era in research in determination of molecular structures ofcrystallized materials. Today, Hauptman'sdirect 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 theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences to name Hauptman andJerome Karle recipients of the 1985Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
He was born to aJewish family inNew York City, the oldest child of Leah (Rosenfeld) and Israel Hauptman.[4] He was married to Edith Citrynell since November 10, 1940, with two daughters, Barbara (1947) and Carol (1950).
After the war he started a collaboration withJerome Karle at theNaval Research Laboratory inWashington, D.C., and at the same time enrolled in thePh.D. program at theUniversity of Maryland, College Park. He received his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Maryland in 1955 in mathematics with a dissertation in the number theory classification.[5][6] This combination of mathematics andphysical chemistry expertise enabled them to tackle head-on thephase problem ofX-ray crystallography. His work on this problem was criticized because, at the time, the problem was believed unsolvable.[7]By 1955 he had received his Ph.D. in mathematics, and they had laid the foundations of thedirect 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 ofprobabilistic methods through a development of theSayre equation.
In 1970 he joined the crystallographic group of the Medical Foundation of Buffalo 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.
^"Outside the field of scientific research, he was known for his outspoken atheism: belief in God, he once declared, is not only incompatible with good science, but is "damaging to the wellbeing of the human race." "The Telegraph.[1]
^"Notable Signers".Humanism and Its Aspirations. American Humanist Association. Archived fromthe original on October 5, 2012. RetrievedOctober 2, 2012.
