Jointly with Herbert A. Hauptman, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985, for the direct analysis of crystal structures using X-ray scattering techniques.

[2][3][4] Karle was born in New York City, on June 18, 1918, the son of Sadie Helen (Kun) and Louis Karfunkle.

[8] As a youth, Karle enjoyed handball, ice skating, touch football and swimming in the nearby Atlantic Ocean.

[2] He enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1940 and met his future wife, Isabella Lugoski, who was sitting at an adjoining desk during his first course in physical chemistry.

[2][9] Jerome Karle was a former president of both the American Crystallographic Association (ACA) (1972) and the IUCr (1981-1984), as well as a co-recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on direct methods.

At the time of his departure from government service, Karle held the chair of science as chief scientist of the Laboratory for the Structure of Matter.