Mark Child facts for kids

Mark Sheard Child is a famous British chemist, born on August 17, 1937. He is also an Emeritus Fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, which means he is a respected senior member of that college. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society, a very important group for top scientists.

His School and University Years

Mark Child went to Pocklington School from 1947 to 1955. After that, he studied at the University of Cambridge.

In 1963, he earned his PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) degree from Cambridge. For his PhD, he wrote a special research paper called a thesis. His thesis was about The vibrational spectra of electronically degenerate molecules. This means he studied how tiny particles vibrate and move.

What Mark Child Studied

Professor Child is very interested in how tiny particles, like atoms and molecules, behave. His research helps us understand how these particles move and interact with each other.

He has studied:

• Semiclassical mechanics: This is a way of understanding how very small things move. It uses ideas from both old (classical) physics and newer (quantum) physics.
• Molecular collision theory: This looks at what happens when molecules bump into each other. It helps scientists understand chemical reactions.
• Rydberg states: These are special, highly excited states of atoms.
• Quantum Level Structures: He also studies how energy levels are arranged in atoms and molecules, especially at certain "saddle points" where their behavior can change in interesting ways.