Education
Levinthal graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in physics from University of California, Berkeley and taught physics at the University of Michigan for seven years before moving to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1957.
Career
In 1968 he joined Columbia University as the Chairman and from 1969 Professor of the newly established Department of Biological Sciences, where he remained until his death from lung cancer in 1990. While at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Levinthal made significant discoveries in molecular genetics relating to the mechanisms of deoxyribonucleic acid replication, the relationship between genes and proteins, and the nature of messenger Ribonucleic acid. At Columbia Levinthal applied computers to the 3-dimensional imaging of biological structures such as proteins. He is considered the father of computer graphical display of protein structure.
See Levinthal"s Paradox.