Luca Turin
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Luca Turin (1953 - ) is a biophysicist with a long-standing interest in the sense of smell, the art of perfume, and the fragrance industry.
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.
Formerly for ten years a tenured staff member at CNRS in France, and then lecturer in biophysics at University College London, in 2001 Turin became CTO of a start-up company Flexitral, based in Chantilly, Virginia, to pursue rational odorant design based on his theories.
He 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 on perfume, Parfums : Le guide, with two editions published in French in 1992 and 1994. He is also the subject of the 2003 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.
[edit] References
- Burr, Chandler (2003). The Emperor of Scent: A Story of Perfume, Obsession, and the Last Mystery of the Senses. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50797-3.
- Turin, Luca (2006). The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell. New York: Ecco. ISBN 0-06-113383-3.
