Klaus Schulten 2015 BPS National Lecturer


Klaus Schulten delivering the 2015 BPS National Lecture in Baltimore. Photo by Rafael Bernardi.

On February 9, 2015 Klaus Schulten delivered the National Lecture at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society in Baltimore. This is the highest award given each year by the Biophysical Society. The topic of Schulten's talk was “Discoveries in Biophysics Through the Computational Microscope”. The Lecture, in which Schulten stressed that computation is now a tool for discovery, encompassed systems ranging from individual proteins, to larger complexes like the ribosome and the HIV virus capsid, all the way to a massive molecular machine––the photosynthetic chromatophore.

Schulten Reflects on his Experience

Immediately after giving his National Lecture, Klaus Schulten sat down to reflect on the event. He described what he set out to accomplish in his talk, and how he chose topics from a research career that spans over forty years. He also explains why the Lecture was the talk of his whole research group, not just of one scientist. And answers the burning question: Were you nervous?
Read Schulten's reflections.

Blog from the Biophysical Society

This year the Biophysical Society had a crew of bloggers posting on their experiences in real time. See this entry from Philip Fowler, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, about Fowler's reaction to Schulten's National Lecture.
Philip Fowler Blog Post: Yes! Yes! But Why? But Why?

Video Preview of the National Lecture

In the lead-up to the National Lecture, Klaus Schulten was interviewed on February 9, right before his talk. See this short video to get an overview of what Schulten had planned for his big night.
Interview Klaus Schulten, 2015 National Lecturer - BPS 2015

National Lecture on Twitter

Get an overview of audience reaction to Klaus Schulten's National Lecture on February 9, 2015.
#bps15 schulten

List of Past National Lectures

The Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, has been awarding the National Lecture since 1969. Below is a list of past recipients and their talk titles. The Annual Meeting, where the National Lecture takes place, is the largest yearly gathering of biophysicists in the world.
Past National Lecturers

Watch the Entire 2015 National Lecture



Photo Gallery




Some images from the 2015 National Lecture. All photographs shown here are used with permission of the Biophysical Society. Click on any image for a larger photo. Pictured is 2014-2015 Biophysical Society President Dorothy Beckett handing Klaus Schulten a commemorative plaque.