John Pople facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Pople
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| Born |
John Anthony Pople
31 October 1925 Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England
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| Died | 15 March 2004 (aged 78) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Known for | Computational methods in quantum chemistry |
| Spouse(s) |
Joy Bowers
(m. 1952; |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
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| Thesis | Lone Pair Electrons (1951) |
| Doctoral advisor | John Lennard-Jones |
| Doctoral students |
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Sir John Anthony Pople was a brilliant British scientist. He was a theoretical chemist. In 1998, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He shared it with Walter Kohn. Pople won for creating special computer methods. These methods helped study quantum chemistry.
Contents
Early Life and Education
John Pople was born on October 31, 1925. His hometown was Burnham-on-Sea, England. He went to the Bristol Grammar School. In 1943, he earned a scholarship. This allowed him to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. He finished his first degree in 1946.
From 1945 to 1947, he worked at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. After that, he went back to the University of Cambridge. He earned his PhD in mathematics in 1951. His research was about lone pair electrons.
Pople's Career Journey
After getting his PhD, Pople worked at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a research fellow there. In 1954, he became a lecturer in mathematics at Cambridge.
In 1958, he moved to the National Physical Laboratory, UK. This lab was near London. He became the head of a new physics division. In 1964, he moved to the United States of America. He lived there for the rest of his life. Even so, he remained a British citizen.
Pople thought of himself more as a mathematician. But many theoretical chemists see him as very important. In 1964, he joined Carnegie Mellon University. This university is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had visited there before in 1961 and 1962. In 1993, he moved to Northwestern University. He was a chemistry professor there until he passed away.
Pople's Scientific Discoveries
John Pople made big contributions in science. His work changed how we understand chemistry. He focused on using computers to solve chemical problems.
Understanding Water with Science
One of Pople's early works was about water. He studied how water molecules behave. His paper on the statistical mechanics of water was very important. It was considered the best for many years. This work was part of his PhD research.
Studying Molecules with NMR
Pople also studied nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). This is a way to learn about molecules. He looked at the science behind it. In 1959, he wrote a book about NMR. It was called High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.
Simplified Molecular Calculations
Pople helped create easier ways to do molecular orbital (MO) calculations. These are like math problems for molecules. One method he worked on is called the Pariser-Parr-Pople method.
Later, he developed other methods. These included Complete Neglect of Differential Overlap (CNDO) in 1965. He also created Intermediate Neglect of Differential Overlap (INDO). These methods made it simpler to calculate how molecules behave. In 1970, he wrote a book about these methods.
Advanced Computer Chemistry Methods
Pople was a leader in developing advanced computer methods. These are called ab initio quantum chemistry methods. They use special math tools to model how electrons behave. In the past, these calculations were very hard. But with faster computers, they became much easier.
He helped create a popular computer program. It's called Gaussian. This program helps scientists study molecules. Pople was one of the authors of the first version, Gaussian 70.
One of his key ideas was "model chemistry." This means testing a method very carefully. You check it across many different molecules. His team also developed special methods like Gaussian-1 (G1) and Gaussian-2 (G2). In 1991, Pople stopped working on Gaussian. Later, he helped create another program called Q-Chem.
Awards and Special Recognitions
John Pople received many awards for his work.
- In 1998, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
- He became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1961. This is a big honor in science.
- In 2003, he was made a Knight Commander (KBE). This is part of the Order of the British Empire.
- He was also a founding member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.
A computer room and a scholarship are named after him. They are at his old school, Bristol Grammar School. A supercomputer at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center is also named after him.
Personal Life
John Pople married Joy Bowers in 1952. They were married until she passed away in 2002. John Pople died in Chicago in 2004. He had liver cancer. He was survived by his daughter, Hilary, and his sons, Adrian, Mark, and Andrew. In 2009, his family gave his Nobel Medal to Carnegie Mellon University. This was done according to his wishes.
See also
- Pople diagram
- Pople notation
- STO-nG basis sets
- Unrestricted Hartree–Fock
- NDDO
