Inaugural Hans Frauenfelder Lecture
Please join us for the inaugural Hans Frauenfelder Lecture in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Invited lecture: Peter Wolynes, Rice University
Wednesday, May 6 | 4–5 p.m.
141 Loomis Laboratory of Physics
Light refreshments will be served outside the lecture hall prior to 4 p.m.
Public reception to follow | 5–6:30 p.m. | 234 Loomis Lab (ICASU)
Talk Title (TBD)
Abstract:TBD
Speaker Biography
Peter Wolynes’ research program at Rice University focuses on many-body phenomena in biology, chemistry, and physics. A central theme is understanding systems with many long-lived states, which requires statistical descriptions of their energy or attractor landscapes. Important examples include glasses, liquids, biomolecules, and biomolecular regulatory networks.
In protein folding, the group studies both laboratory folding kinetics and bioinformatic methods for predicting structure from sequence using computer simulations. A key concept is that foldable proteins have a “rugged funnel” energy landscape, which guides the development of folding models and structure-prediction algorithms.
Related attractor-landscape ideas also apply to higher-level biological processes such as gene recognition and genetic network regulation. In condensed matter, studies of supercooled liquids and glasses have shown that a framework based on random first-order transitions explains many observed quantitative relations, including those in cryogenic regimes where quantum effects become important. These ideas also extend to diverse systems such as high-temperature superconductors, polymer assemblies, microemulsions, chromosome organization, and the interior dynamics of living cells.
Wolynes received his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Harvard University in 1976. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow with John Deutch at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology prior to joining the chemistry faculty at Harvard in the fall of the same year. In 1980 he moved to the University of Illinois, eventually becoming the Center for Advanced Study Professor of Chemistry, Physics and Biophysics. In 2000 he moved to the University of California, San Diego, joining the faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. In 2011, Rice University named him the D.R. Bullard-Welch Foundation Professor of Science, with appointments in the departments of Chemistry, Physics, Biosciences and Materials Science and Engineering.
Wolynes’s work across the spectrum of theoretical chemistry and biochemistry has been recognized by the 1986 ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, the 2000 Peter Debye Award for Physical Chemistry of the ACS, the Fresenius Award, the Joseph Hirschfelder Prize and the ACS Award in Theoretical Chemistry 2012. For his work on the energy landscape theory of protein folding, he received the 2004 Biological Physics Prize of the American Physical Society (now called the Max Delbrück Prize) and the 2008 Founders Award of the Biophysical Society. He received an honorary Doctor of Science from Indiana University in 1988 and an honorary doctorate from Stockholm University in 2010. He was elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1991. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the Biophysical Society. Wolynes has been elected to the American Philosophical Society, the German Academy of Sciences "Leopoldina," and as a Foreign Member to the Royal Society of London and the Indian National Science Academy. He was named an Einstein Chair Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010.
Hans Frauenfelder (1922–2022) was a visionary experimental physicist and an inspiring colleague, teacher, and mentor. His work at the intersection of physics and biochemistry yielded seminal discoveries and helped establish the field of biological physics.
Frauenfelder’s long and distinguished research career began at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, Switzerland, where Albert Einstein also studied. In his doctoral work at the intersection of nuclear and condensed matter physics, Frauenfelder provided new evidence for the neutrino by observing nuclear recoil following electron capture using radioactive thin films. His experimental technique further proved successful in probing atomic motion in solids. At ETH, he also pioneered the use of perturbed angular correlations to study the relationship between successive decays of radioactive nuclei.
Frauenfelder first came to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a postdoctoral researcher, before joining the physics faculty in 1952. At Illinois, his group contributed to early confirmation of parity violation following the predictions of Chen-Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee, and later carried out influential experiments that set limits on the possible decay of the proton.
In the 1970s, Frauenfelder turned his attention to fundamental questions at the interface of physics and biochemistry. Most notably, with colleague Irwin Gunsalus, a professor of biochemistry at Illinois, he demonstrated how the Mössbauer effect—recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence—could be used to characterize the dynamics of heme proteins at cryogenic temperatures. Using the tools of physics, he revealed the quantum mechanical effects underlying biochemical reactions. Frauenfelder’s later work with Gregory A. Petsko and Demetrius Tsernoglou applied protein x-ray crystallography at low temperatures, showing that the technique could capture the spatial distribution of a protein’s dynamic features. These studies laid the groundwork for the transformative concept of protein energy landscapes, which views proteins as dynamic ensembles rather than static structures.
After retiring from Illinois in 1992 at age 70, Frauenfelder joined Los Alamos National Laboratory, later becoming director of the laboratory’s Center for Nonlinear Studies. In 2004, he moved to LANL’s Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group, continuing his research and publishing his last paper in 2017.
Frauenfelder’s many scientific achievements were recognized with the American Physical Society’s 1992 Max Delbrück Prize for Biological Physics. He was an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the German National Academy of Sciences (the Leopoldina). He was also a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and received honorary doctorates from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Zurich. At Illinois, he was a life member of the Center for Advanced Study.
Frauenfelder’ s legacy is reflected not only in his scientific achievements but also in the generations of scientists he inspired. He trained approximately 100 Ph.D. students at Illinois. Colleagues and students remember Frauenfelder as a deeply inspiring mentor whose enthusiasm made collaboration exciting and transformative, with lively discussions and work often extending late into the night. Many former group members credit him as a pivotal influence on their lives and careers.
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The Hans Frauenfelder Lecture is presented annually at the Illinois Physics Colloquium. It features leading physicists whose science demonstrates the same pioneering spirit that defined the research of the late Illinois Physics Professor Emeritus Hans Frauenfelder. The lecture is generously funded by memorial gifts from Frauenfelder's friends, colleagues, and former students. If you would like to support this memorial lecture, your tax-deductible donation can be made on the Illinois Physics website by following the link below. https://physics.illinois.edu/make-a-gift Direct your contribution to the Hans Frauenfelder Colloquium Fund under “Support Our Special Initiatives.” |