Robert Sanderson Mulliken (June 7, 1896 – October 31, 1986) was an American physicist and chemist, primarily responsible for the elaboration of the molecular orbital method of computing the structure of molecules. June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Physics (from the Greek, (phúsis), nature and (phusiké), knowledge of nature) is the science concerned with the discovery and understanding of the fundamental laws which govern matter, energy, space and time. ... Chemistry (from Greek χημεία khemeia[1] meaning alchemy) is the science of matter at the atomic to molecular scale, dealing primarily with collections of atoms, such as molecules, crystals, and metals. ... Electron atomic and molecular orbitals In quantum chemistry (electronic structure theory), the molecular electronic states, i. ... In chemistry, a molecule is an aggregate of at least two atoms in a definite arrangement held together by special forces. ...

Early life

Mulliken was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His father, Samuel Parsons Mulliken, was a professor of organic chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As a child, Robert Mulliken learned the name and botanical classification of plants and, in general, had an excellent, but selective, memory. For example, he learned German well enough to skip the course in scientific German in college, but could not remember the name of his high school German teacher. He also made the acquaintance, while still a child, of the physical chemist Arthur Amos Noyes.   Settled: 1635 â€“ Incorporated: 1764 Zip Code(s): 01950 â€“ Area Code(s): 351 / 978 Official website: http://www. ... Organic chemistry is a specific discipline within the subject of chemistry. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is organized into five schools and one college, containing 32 academic departments and 53 interdisciplinary laboratories, centers and programs. ... Pinguicula grandiflora Botany is the scientific study of plantlife. ... Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta - rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta - zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta - trimerophytes Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta... Arthur Amos Noyes (1866 – 1936) was a U.S. chemist and educator. ...

Mulliken helped with some of the editorial work when his father wrote his four-volume text on organic compound identification, and thus became an expert on organic chemical nomenclature. Organic nomenclature is the system established for naming and grouping organic compounds. ...

Education

In high school in Newburyport, Mulliken took a scientific curriculum. He graduated in 1913 and succeeded in getting a scholarship to MIT that had earlier been won by his father. Like his father, he majored in chemistry. Already as an undergraduate, he did his first publishable research: on the synthesis of organic chlorides. Because he was unsure of his future direction, he included some chemical engineering courses in his curriculum and spent a summer touring chemical plants in Massachusetts and Maine. He received his B. S. degree in chemistry from MIT in 1917. 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Chemistry (from Greek χημεία khemeia[1] meaning alchemy) is the science of matter at the atomic to molecular scale, dealing primarily with collections of atoms, such as molecules, crystals, and metals. ... ur mom Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with the application of physical science (in particular chemistry and physics) and mathematics to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the remainder of this article may require cleanup. ... Official language(s) None (English de facto) Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 39th  - Total 33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²)  - Width 210 miles (338 km)  - Length 320 miles (515 km)  - % water 13. ... A Bachelor of Science (B.S., B.Sc. ... It has been suggested that Professional degree be merged into this article or section. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...

Early career

At this time, the United States had just entered World War I, and Mulliken took a position at American University in Washington, D.C., making poison gas under James B. Conant. After nine months, he was drafted into the Army's Chemical Warfare Service, but continued on the same task. His laboratory techniques left much to be desired, and he was out of service for months with burns. Later he got a bad case of influenza, and was still in the hospital at war's end. Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul von Hindenburg... For other universities known as American University, see American University (disambiguation). ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia. ... James Bryant Conant (March 26, 1893 - February 11, 1978) was a chemist, educational administrator, and public servant. ...

After the war, he took a job investigating the effects of zinc oxide and carbon black on rubber, but quickly decided that this was not the kind of chemistry he wanted to pursue. So in 1919 he entered the Ph. D. program at the University of Chicago. General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Atomic mass 12. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ...

Graduate and early postdoctoral education

He got his doctorate in 1921 based on research into the separation of isotopes of mercury by evaporation, and continued in his isotope separation by this method. While at Chicago, he took a course under the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Robert A. Millikan, which exposed him to the old quantum theory. He also became interested in strange molecules after exposure to work by Hermann I. Schlesinger on diborane. 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Isotopes are any of the several different forms of an element each having different atomic mass. ... General Name, Symbol, Number mercury, Hg, 80 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 6, d Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 200. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town, The City of Big Shoulders Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area    - City 606. ... Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995) accepting the Nobel Prize for his work on magnetohydrodynamics [1]. List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... Robert Millikan. ... The Bohr model of the atom The Bohr Model is a physical model that depicts the atom as a small positively charged nucleus with electrons in orbit at different levels, similar in structure to the solar system. ... In chemistry, a molecule is an aggregate of at least two atoms in a definite arrangement held together by special forces. ... Diborane is a colorless gas at room temperature with a repulsive, sweet odor. ...

At Chicago, he had received a grant from the National Research Council (NRC) which had paid for much of his work on isotope separation. The NRC grant was extended in 1923 for two years so he could study isotope effects on band spectra of such diatomic molecules as boron nitride (BN) (comparing molecules with B¹⁰ and B¹¹). He went to Harvard University to learn spectrographic technique from Frederick A. Saunders and quantum theory from E. C. Kemble. At the time, he was able to associate with many future luminaries, including J. Robert Oppenheimer, John H. Van Vleck, and Harold C. Urey. He also met John C. Slater, who had worked with Niels Bohr. 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, served as the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, beginning in 1943. ... John Hasbrouck van Vleck (March 13, 1899 – October 27, 1980) was an American physicist. ... Harold Urey, circa 1963. ... John Clark Slater (1900-1976) was a major physicist and theoretical chemist. ... Niels (Henrik David) Bohr (October 7, 1885 – November 18, 1962) was a Danish physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics. ...

In 1925 and 1927, Mulliken traveled to Europe, working with outstanding spectroscopists and quantum theorists such as Erwin Schrödinger, Paul A. M. Dirac, Werner Heisenberg, Louis de Broglie, Max Born, and Walther Bothe (all of whom eventually received Nobel Prizes) and Friedrich Hund, who was at the time Born's assistant. They all, as well as Wolfgang Pauli, were developing the new quantum mechanics that would eventually supersede the old quantum theory. Mulliken was particularly influenced by Hund, who had been working on quantum interpretation of band spectra of diatomic molecules, the same spectra which Mulliken had investigated at Harvard. In 1927 Mulliken worked with Hund and as a result developed his molecular orbital theory, in which electrons are assigned to states that extend over an entire molecule. In consequence, molecular orbital theory was also referred to as the Hund-Mulliken theory. 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (August 12, 1887 – January 4, 1961) was an Austrian physicist who achieved fame for his contributions to quantum mechanics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1933. ... Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS (IPA: [dɪræk]) (August 8, 1902 – October 20, 1984) was a British theoretical physicist and a founder of the field of quantum physics. ... Werner Karl Heisenberg (December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976) was a celebrated German physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, and acknowledged to be one of the most important physicists of the twentieth century. ... Louis-Victor-Pierre-Raymond, 7th duc de Broglie, generally known as Louis de Broglie (August 15, 1892–March 19, 1987), was a French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate. ... Max Born Max Born (December 11, 1882 in Breslau - January 5, 1970 in Göttingen) was a mathematician and physicist. ... Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe (January 8, 1891 – February 8, 1957) was a German physicist, mathematician, chemist, and Nobel Prize winner. ... ... This article is about Austrian-Swiss physicist Wolfgang Pauli. ... Fig. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Electron atomic and molecular orbitals In quantum chemistry (electronic structure theory), the molecular electronic states, i. ...

Beginning of his scientific career

From 1926 to 1928, he taught in the physics department at New York University (NYU). This was his first recognition as a physicist; though his work had been considered important by chemists, it clearly was on the borderline between the two sciences and both would claim him from this point on. Then he returned to the University of Chicago as an associate professor of physics, being promoted to full professor in 1931. He would ultimately hold a position jointly in both the physics and chemistry departments. At both NYU and Chicago, he continued to refine his molecular-orbital theory. 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Physics (from the Greek, (phúsis), nature and (phusiké), knowledge of nature) is the science concerned with the discovery and understanding of the fundamental laws which govern matter, energy, space and time. ... New York University (NYU) is a major research university in New York City. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ...

Up to this point, the primary way to calculate the electronic structure of molecules was based on a calculation by Walter Heitler and Fritz London on the hydrogen molecule (H₂) in 1927. With improvements by John C. Slater and Linus Pauling, this method assumed that the bonds in any molecule could be described in a manner similar to the bond in H₂, and since it corresponded to chemists' ideas of localized bonds between pairs of atoms, this method (called the Valence-Bond (VB) or Heitler-London-Slater-Pauling (HLSP) method), was very popular. However, particularly in attempting to calculate the properties of excited states (molecules that have been excited by some source of energy), the VB method does not always work well. Mulliken's molecular-orbital method, building on the quantitative work of John Lennard-Jones, proved to be more flexible and applicable to a vast variety of types of molecules and molecular fragments, and has totally eclipsed Pauling's valence-bond method. As a result of this development, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1966. Electron configuration is the arrangement of electrons in an atom, molecule or other body. ... Walter Heinrich Heitler (02. ... Fritz Wolfgang London (March 7, 1900–March 30, 1954) was a German-born American physicist for whom the London force is named. ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... John Clark Slater (1900-1976) was a major physicist and theoretical chemist. ... Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American quantum chemist and biochemist. ... A chemical bond is the physical phenomenon (or phenomena) responsible for the attractive interactions betwen atoms that confers stability to di- and polyatomic chemical compounds. ... John Edward Lennard-Jones (October 27, 1894 - November 1, 1954) was a mathematician who held a chair of theoretical physics at Bristol University, and then a chair of theoretical science at Cambridge University. ... List of Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry from 1901 to the present day. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ...

Mulliken became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1936, the youngest member in the organization's history, at that time. President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Starting a family

On December 24, 1929, he married Mary Helen von Noé, daughter of a geology professor at the University of Chicago. They had two daughters. December 24 is the 358th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (359th in leap years). ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Later scientific career

In 1934, he derived a new scale for measuring the electronegativity of elements. This does not entirely correlate with the scale of Linus Pauling, but is generally in close correspondence. 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The electronegativities on this page are incorrect and need to be updated Electronegativity is a measure of the ability of an atom or molecule to attract electrons in the context of a chemical bond. ... Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American quantum chemist and biochemist. ...

In World War II, from 1942 to 1945, Mulliken directed the Information Office for the University of Chicago's Plutonium project. Afterward, he developed mathematical formulas to enable the progress of the molecular-orbital theory. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... 1945 (MCMVL) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... General Name, Symbol, Number plutonium, Pu, 94 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery white Atomic mass (244) g/mol Electron configuration [Rn] 5f6 7s2 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 24, 8, 2 Physical properties Phase solid Density (near r. ...

In 1952 he began to apply quantum mechanics to the analysis of the reaction between Lewis acid and base molecules. (See Acid-base reaction theories.) He became Distinguished Professor of Physics and Chemistry in 1961 and continued in his studies of molecular structure and spectra, ranging from diatomic molecules to large complex aggregates. He retired in 1985. 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Fig. ... Lewis in the Berkeley Lab Gilbert Newton Lewis (October 23, 1875-March 23, 1946) was a famous American physical chemist. ... For other uses, see Acid (disambiguation). ... A bases in chemistry is a chemical substance which has a free pair of electrons to bind a Hydrogen ion commonly referred to as a proton (IUPAC definition). ... In chemistry, a molecule is an aggregate of at least two atoms in a definite arrangement held together by special forces. ... An acid-base reaction is a chemical reaction between an acid and a base. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Geometry of the water molecule Molecules have fixed equilibrium geometries--bond lengths and angles--that are dictated by the laws of quantum mechanics. ... Extremely high resolution spectrum of the Sun showing thousands of elemental absorption lines (fraunhofer lines) Spectroscopy is the study of matter and its properties by investigating light, sound, or particles that are emitted, absorbed or scattered by the matter under investigation. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

End of his life

He died of congestive heart failure at his daughter's home in Arlington, Virginia (across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.) His body was returned to Chicago for burial. Arlington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia (which calls itself a commonwealth), directly across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. By an act of Congress July 9, 1846, the area south of the Potomac was returned to Virginia effective in 1847 As of 2000... The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States (USA). ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia. ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town, The City of Big Shoulders Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area    - City 606. ...