Our impact on the world

Shaping Molecules

When John Pople and Walter Kohn received the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, they cited the research of chemist Peter Pulay as the building block for their prize-winning work. Early in his career, Pulay developed techniques for determining the shape and size of molecules that would permanently change the way scientists study matter. Today his approach is used by theoretical chemists around the world to determine the geometry of large, biologically important molecules.