Michael L. Klein

Klein, a British native, was naturalized in the United States in 1993. Klein obtained a B.Sc. from the University of Bristol in 1961, followed by a Ph.D. in 1964.[6] His research career includes the fields of chemistry and physics. Klein was a CIBA-Geigy Research Fellow of Physics at the University of Genoa in Italy from 1964-1965. Then went on to complete his chemistry research as an ICI Research Fellow at the University of Bristol from 1965-1967. His education and career then moved to the United States in 1967 where he served as a Research Associate of Physics at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Klein was a researcher at the National Research Council of Canada from 1968-1987 and joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. Klein's research in computational chemistry, particularly statistical mechanics, intermolecular interactions, and modeling of condensed phases and biophysical systems, is among the most highly cited in the field.[7] He received the Aneesur Rahman prize in 1999, which is the highest honor given by the American Physical Society for work in computational physics, and was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2009.[8]

Klein has advanced the field of computer simulation and modelling of molecular systems over a broad front. His early works focused on developing pragmatic intermolecular force fields to be used in computer simulation Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of molecular systems, such as water and aqueous solutions. During the 1980’s and early 1990’s his group developed and elaborated algorithms and methodologies to enable the efficient and rigorous computer simulation of macromolecular systems. These seminal works have been influential and are very highly cited because of their broad utility. Every modern MD simulation code employs these algorithms in one form or other. Thus, modern molecular simulation studies of chemical systems ranging from surfactants to proteins and from lipid membranes to energy materials - including solid electrolyte fuel cells, and so-called “green” ionic liquids - take advantage of these algorithms. His pioneering simulation studies of surfactants, lipid membranes, and membrane-bound ion channels are noteworthy.[9]