Michele Parrinello

Professor Parrinello is known for his many technical innovations in the field of atomistic simulations and for a wealth of interdisciplinary applications ranging from materials science to chemistry and biology. Together with Roberto Car he introduced ab-initio molecular dynamics, also known as the Car-Parrinello method, marking the beginning of a new era both in the area of electronic structure calculations and in molecular dynamics simulations. He is also known for the Parrinello-Rahman method, which allows crystalline phase transitions to be studied by molecular dynamics. More recently he has introduced metadynamics for the study of rare events and the calculation of free energies.