Mati Karelson

Mati Karelson (born 27 December 1948) is an Estonian chemist and academic whose work has centred on theoretical and computational chemistry, especially quantitative structure–activity and structure–property relationships (QSAR/QSPR), molecular descriptors, molecular design and the use of artificial intelligence in chemistry. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Tartu, was elected a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in 2007, and served as research and development adviser to the Prime Minister of Estonia from 2005 to 2014.

Early life and education Karelson was born in Tartu. He graduated from Tartu 5th Secondary School in 1967 and from the University of Tartu in 1972, specialising in organic chemistry. In 1975 he earned the degree of Candidate of Sciences in chemistry at the University of Tartu with a dissertation on the applicability of electrostatic models in organic chemistry.

Research Karelson's research has included quantum theory of condensed and disordered media, modelling of chemical reactivity, QSAR/QSPR, heterocyclic chemistry, technological-property modelling, molecular technology and artificial intelligence in chemistry.

Karelson is the author of the English-language monograph Molecular Descriptors in QSAR/QSPR (2000), a survey of theoretical molecular descriptors and their use in QSPR and QSAR modelling. The book was reviewed by Hugo Kubinyi in Angewandte Chemie International Edition in 2001. With Viktor S. Lobanov and Alan R. Katritzky, he also co-authored the review article "Quantum-Chemical Descriptors in QSAR/QSPR Studies" in Chemical Reviews in 1996.

Honours Karelson received an Estonian national science award in 2001. He received the University of Tartu Medal in 2008, became an honorary citizen of Tartu in the same year, and was awarded the Wilhelm Ostwald Medal in 2014. The University of Tartu awarded him its Grand Medal in 2018 and the decoration "100 Semesters at the University of Tartu" in 2020.

Selected publications