{"336801":{"#nid":"336801","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Inquiring Minds @ Tech Public Lecture: How Nature Harvests Sunlight: The Physics of Photosynthesis","body":[{"value":"\u003Ch4\u003EDr. Klaus Schulten of the University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign will present a free public lecture hosted by the School of Physics.\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPhotosynthesis is one of the great-impact inventions of biological evolution. \u0026nbsp;Indeed, life on Earth is fueled energy-wise mainly by sun light. \u0026nbsp;Many, so-called photosynthetic, life forms harvest sun light directly, for example, plants, algae and bacteria; other life forms use sun light indirectly, like herbivorous animals. \u0026nbsp;This lecture tells the story a particular simple, yet amazing photosynthetic apparatus, the chromatophore, found in purple bacteria. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe photosynthetic chromatophore is a spherical shell of 50 nm diameter that exists in hundreds of copies in the bacterial cell and converts\u0026nbsp;sun light into chemical synthesis of an energy-rich molecule, adenosin triphosphate (ATP). Each chromatophore is made of over hundred\u0026nbsp;protein complexes with thousands of light absorbing and electron conducting molecules embedded in them; the complexes are held\u0026nbsp;together by a membrane made of 20,000 lipid molecules. Despite its complexity and heterogeneity the chromatophore can be viewed today\u0026nbsp;through advances in experimental and computational biology at atomic- and electronic-level detail in its entire structure and function. One sees a clockwork of linked,\u0026nbsp;mostly rather elementary processes: light absorption, coherent and incoherent exciton formation, intermolecular electron and proton\u0026nbsp;transfer, charge carrier diffusion, electrostatic steering of protein- mediated electron conduction, molecular motor action driven by proton\u0026nbsp;conduction, and lastly mechanically driven ATP synthesis. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor the first time a major part of a biological cell has been resolved in its entirety\u0026nbsp;at the level of truly basic physics, showcasing how Angstrom- scale processes lead to 100-nm-scale intelligent overall function. In viewing\u0026nbsp;the chromatophore through a beautifully detailed movie one can recognize in an exemplary fashion how evolution engineered an apparatus crucial for solar energy-driven life\u0026nbsp;on Earth, utilizing amazing processes on the small scale by linking them together in a clock-work fashion such that an efficient, robust and\u0026nbsp;adaptive cell-scale function emerges.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"How Nature Harvests Sunlight: The Physics of Photosynthesis"}],"uid":"27664","created_gmt":"2014-10-23 15:08:32","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:09:54","author":"Alison Morain","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2014-11-03T17:00:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2014-11-03T18:00:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2014-11-03T18:00:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2014-11-03 22:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2014-11-03 23:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2014-11-03 23:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"18531","name":"photosynthesis"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:alison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ealison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}