Dwayne Miller

Title

Making the Molecular Movie: First Frames... With Regae Music

Abstract

One of the great dream experiments in science is to watch atomic motions as they occur during structural changes. This prospect provides a direct observation of the very essence of chemistry and the central unifying concept of transition states that connects chemistry to biology. From a physics perspective, this capability would enable observation of rarefied states of matter at an atomic level of inspection. This experiment has been referred to as “making the molecular movie”. Due to the extraordinary requirements for simultaneous spatial and temporal resolution, it was thought to be an impossible quest and has been previously discussed in the context of the purest form of a gedanken experiment. With the recent development of femtosecond electron pulses with sufficient number density and spatial coherence to execute single shot structure determinations, this experiment has been finally realized (Siwick et al. Science 2003). With this new level of acuity in observing structural dynamics, there have been many surprises and this will be an underlying theme. Several movies depicting atomic motions during passage through structural transitions relevant to condensed phase dynamics will be shown. These new developments will be discussed in the context of developing the necessary technology to directly observe the structure-function correlation in biomolecules - the fundamental molecular basis of biological systems.