Everything about Luca Turin totally explained
Luca Turin (
1953 - ) is a
biophysicist with a long-standing interest in the sense of smell, the art of perfume, and the
fragrance industry.
Vibration theory of olfaction
Since
1996 Turin has been the leading proponent of the
vibration theory of olfaction, which proposes that the
vibrational spectroscopic properties of molecules can be an important determinant of their associated smells, rather than just the specific "
lock and key"
ligand binding proposed by the orthodox
shape theory of olfaction. Turin suggested that a plausible mechanism for such a molecular
spectroscope could be inelastic
electron tunneling.
A major prediction of Turin's theory is the
isotope effect: that the normal and
deuterated versions of a compound should smell different, although they've the same shape. A 2001 study by Haffenden et al showed humans able to distinguish
benzaldehyde from its deuterated version
(External Link
)(External Link).
However, experimental tests published in
Nature Neuroscience in 2004 by Vosshall and Keller failed to support this prediction, with human subjects unable to distinguish
acetophenone and its deuterated counterpart
(External Link). The study was accompanied by an editorial, which considered Vosshall's work to be "refutation of a theory that, while provocative, has almost no credence in scientific circles. The only reason for the authors to do the study, or for
Nature Neuroscience to publish it, is the extraordinary -- and inappropriate -- degree of publicity that the theory has received from uncritical journalists."
(External Link) The journal also published a review of
The Emperor of Scent, calling Chandler Burr's book about Turin and his theory "giddy and overwrought."
Philosopher of science Miriam Solomon of Temple University, who reviewed Turin's own book in
Science, has suggested that
Nature Neuroscience may have been defensive about the positive publicity surrounding Turin's theory because
Nature, the parent journal, famously rejected Turin's original article. (Turin's research paper was published instead in
Chemical Senses.)
(External Link) Nevertheless, two years after publishing the Vosshall paper and the accompanying editorial, the news website of
Nature published an article about a study that supported Turin's theory: "A controversial theory of how we smell, which claims that our fine sense of odour depends on quantum mechanics, has been given the thumbs up by a team of physicists."
In addition, tests with animals have shown fish and insects able to distinguish isotopes by smell
(External Link)(External Link). Biophysical simulations published in
Physical Review Letters in 2006 suggest that Turin's proposal is viable from a physics standpoint
(External Link).
The vibration theory received possible support from a 2004 paper published in the journal Organic Biomolecular Chemistry by Takane and Mitchell, which shows that odor descriptions in the olfaction literature correlate more strongly with vibrational frequency than with molecular shape
(External Link).
Biography
Turin was born in 1953 in
Beirut,
Lebanon, to
Italian Argentine parents. He lives in
London.
Education and employment
Turin earned his Ph.D. in
physiology at
University College London. From
1982 until
1988, he worked in France as a researcher for the
CNRS at the
Villefranche Marine Station near
Nice. He was then employed at the
Pasteur Institute from 1988 until
1990.
After leaving the CNRS, Turin first held a visiting research position at the
National Institutes of Health in
North Carolina before moving back to
London, where he became a lecturer in biophysics at
University College London. In
2001 Turin was hired as
CTO of start-up company Flexitral, based in
Chantilly, Virginia, to pursue rational odorant design based on his theories.
Role in the case of Henri Korn
Turin's role in reporting a high-profile instance of scientific
fraud was reported in
2007 in both
Nature and
Le Nouvel Observateur.
In 1988, Turin began work at the lab led by
neuroscience researcher Henri Korn at the
Pasteur Institute. There, Turin and his colleague Nicole Ropert reported to their superiors that they believed some of Korn's research on
neurotransmitters was based on fabricated results. After Turin made a formal request that the CNRS investigate the allegations, he was told to find work outside of France; Ropert was also asked to leave.
Korn was awarded the prestigious
Lounsbery Award in
1992 and became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. and the French Academy of Sciences. Then in 2007, re-analysis of Korn's data by in the
Journal of Neurophysiology showed serious anomalies that suggested the results were indeed fabricated.
Publications and media coverage
Turin is the author of the book
The Secret of Scent (2006), which details the history and science of his theory of olfaction, and an acclaimed critical guide to perfume,
Parfums: Le Guide, with two editions published in French in 1992 and 1994. He is also the subject of the 2002 book
The Emperor of Scent by
Chandler Burr, as well as of the
BBC Horizon documentary "A Code in the Nose."
Since 2003, Turin has also written a regular column on perfume, "Duftnote," for
NZZ Folio, the German-language monthly magazine of
Swiss newspaper
Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The column is also published in English on the magazine's website.
(External Link)
In 2008,
Viking Press published
Perfumes: The Guide by Turin and Tania Sanchez. The book comprises 1,500 critical reviews of individual fragrances, plus introductory essays about the art, science, and history of perfume.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Luca Turin'.
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