Emeritus: A better way to see molecular structures
Editor’s note: This is part of a series of articles linking the work of MIT’s emeritus faculty members with the current state of research in their given fields.In laboratories at MIT and around the world, scientists are deciphering the molecular structures of proteins involved in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, diabetes, and many other disorders. Much of that research would not be possible without the pioneering nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) work of John Waugh, MIT Institute Professor Emeritus. When Waugh first came to MIT, in 1953, NMR was already a valuable tool for the study of molecular structure — but only for liquid samples. In the 1960s Waugh developed a way to use it to study solids, making it useful for analyzing things that don’t dissolve in water, including proteins, nucleic acids (such as DNA) and some drugs. That technique eventually played a role in many of the past half-century’s discoveries...