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Physical & Theoretical Chemistry

Should you become a physical chemist? The answer is yes if want to know what makes things tick, down at the atomic level, where one must reckon with the quantum mechanical reality of nature. We want to extract the essential physics responsible for bulk (observable) chemical behavior and develop a simple picture of it that everyone can use. It is the tradition established in our department by Gibbs (Yale B.S. 1858, Ph. D. '63), continued by Onsager, and carried on today. While the previous century of Physical Chemistry has been devoted to decoding the quantum signatures of molecular motion and structure, the frontier questions now reflect the evolution of chemistry toward supra molecular structure and self assembly. How do we build nanoscale electronic devices and machines when their sizes introduce fundamental quantum mechanical behavior? To address this challenge, we must develop tools to understand and predict reversible bonding, for example, and how energy and charge are conducted through large molecular networks. These are the building blocks of higher molecular complexity (including biomolecular assembles) that capture our attention. As always, work at the forefront involves a close interaction between theory and experiment, and our department has a particularly balanced approach. Whatever it takes — “real theory,” simulation, NMR, ultrafast laser kinetics and spectroscopy, size-selected clusters, and yes, even synthesis! The diverse training afforded by this eclectic approach has served our graduates well over the years, and if you answered “yes” above, come join us!

List of Faculty:

Victor S. Batista
R. James Cross, Jr.
Gary L. Haller
Francesco Iachello
Mark A. Johnson
Charles A. Schmuttenmaer
John C. Tully
Patrick H. Vaccaro
Elsa Yan
Kurt W. Zilm

see also
William L. Jorgensen
J. Patrick Loria

Last modified: March 11, 2007 (rjc)