Per-Olov Lowdin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Per-Olov Löwdin (born October 28, 1916 in Uppsala ; † October 6, 2000 there ) was a Swedish theoretical chemist and physicist .

Löwdin, the son of a musician, went to school in Uppsala and studied physics at Uppsala University from 1935, graduating in 1942 and receiving a doctorate from Ivar Waller in 1948 with a theoretical dissertation on ion crystals . He had semesters abroad in 1946 at the ETH Zurich and in 1948 at the University of Bristol . From 1948 to 1955 he was a lecturer in theoretical physics in Uppsala and from 1955 to 1960 assistant professor at the Swedish National Research Council. In addition, from 1950 to 1959 he was a visiting scientist and visiting professor at various universities in the USA (MIT, Stanford, Caltech, San Diego, University of Chicago , Duke University , Rice University, etc.) for about six months a year . He was a professor in Uppsala from 1960 to 1982 and was retired there in 1983 (afterwards he was Professor Emeritus). He was also a professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville from 1960 to 1992 . There he started the Quantum Theory Project in 1960 (under his leadership until 1982), a quantum theory group parallel to his group in Uppsala, which he led from 1955 to 1982. From 1958 he set up summer courses for quantum chemistry in Uppsala. In the USA he held winter school courses on Sanibel Island (Sanibel Symposium, which has been held annually since 1960) and later in Gainesville, Florida (from 1964 John C. Slater was also involved).

He made significant contributions to quantum chemistry , particularly his orthogonalization method , the symmetric orthogonalization of 1950.

He was a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science and its president from 1979 to 1985. Löwdin was a member of the Royal Swedish , Norwegian , Finnish and Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and, since 1983, the American Philosophical Society . In 1965 he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society . In 1987 he received the Niels Bohr Medal from the WATOC and in 1993 the Oscar Carlson Medal from the Swedish Chemical Society .

He received honorary doctorates in Ghent, Paris, Constance and Turku. Since 1983 there has been an annual Per Olov Löwdin guest lecture at Uppsala University. He received the French Lavoisier Medal in Gold from the French Academy of Sciences and was a Knight of the Legion of Honor . Löwdin received the Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1975 , was commander of the Wasa Order and knight of the Swedish North Star Order . From 1972 to 1984 he was on the Nobel Committee for Physics.

He was the founder and editor of the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry and the book series Advances in Quantum Chemistry from 1967 to 2000 .

In 1960 he married Karin Wilhelmina Höok, with whom he had a son and a daughter. His hobbies were music, music theory and mountain climbing.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lowdin, Per-Olov
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish physicist
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Uppsala
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 2000
Place of death Uppsala