Donald Gene Truhlar (born 27 February 1944, Chicago) is an American scientist working in theoretical and

computational chemistry Computational chemistry is a branch of chemistry that uses computer simulation to assist in solving chemical problems. It uses methods of theoretical chemistry, incorporated into computer programs, to calculate the structures and properties of m ...

and chemical physics with special emphases on quantum mechanics and chemical dynamics.

Early life, education, and early work

Donald Gene Truhlar was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

on 27 February 1944 to John Joseph Truhlar and Lucille Marie Vancura, both of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

ancestry. Truhlar received a B.A., from St. Mary's College of Minnesota (1965), and a Ph. D., from

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

(1970), under Aron Kuppermann. He has been on the faculty of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

from 1969–present.

Important contributions

Truhlar is known for his contributions to theoretical chemical dynamics of chemical reactions; quantum mechanical scattering theory of chemical reactions and molecular energy transfer; electron scattering; theoretical kinetics and chemical dynamics; potential energy surfaces and molecular interactions; path integrals; variational transition state theory; the use of electronic structure theory for calculations of chemical structure, reaction rates, electronically nonadiabatic processes, and solvation effects; photochemistry; combustion chemistry; heterogeneous, homogeneous, and enzyme catalysis; atmospheric and environmental chemistry; drug design; nanoparticle structure and energetics; and density functional theory, including the Minnesota Functionals. To date, he has authored or co-authored more than 1300 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. As of 2023, one of his papers (in which the M06 density functional methods were described) had received more than 25,000 citations and his total body of work had been cited over 217,000 times.

Awards and honors

Truhlar was elected to the

International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science The International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science (IAQMS) is an international scientific learned society covering all applications of quantum theory to chemistry and chemical physics. It was created in Menton in 1967. The founding members wer ...

(2006), the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

of the USA (2009), and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

(2015). He became an Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society in 2015. He was named a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, (1986) the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

(2009), the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

(1986), the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

(2009), and the

World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists The World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC) is a scholarly association founded in 1982 "in order to encourage the development and application of theoretical methods" in chemistry, particularly theoretical chemistry and c ...

(2006). He was a visiting fellow at the

Battelle Memorial Institute Battelle Memorial Institute (more widely known as simply Battelle) is a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle is a charitable trust organized as a nonprofit corporation u ...

(1973) and at the

Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics JILA, formerly known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, is a physical science research institute in the United States. JILA is located on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. JILA was founded in 1962 as a joint institute of ...

(1975–76), and was named an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow (1973). He received the NSF Creativity Award (1993), the ACS Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research (2000), the Minnesota Award (2003) ("for outstanding contributions to the chemical sciences"), the National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Reviewing (2004); the ACS

Peter Debye Award The Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry is awarded annually by the American Chemical Society "to encourage and reward outstanding research in physical chemistry". The award is named after Peter Debye and granted without regard to age or natio ...

for Physical Chemistry (2006), the Lise Meitner Lectureship Award (2006), the Schrödinger Medal of The World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (2006), the Dudley R. Herschbach Award for Research in Molecular Collision Dynamics (2009), Doctor honoris causa of Technical University of Lodz, Poland, (2010), the Royal Society of Chemistry Chemical Dynamics Award (2012), the APS Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics (2015), and the 2019 ACS Award in Theoretical Chemistry (2018). Truhlar has served as an associate editor of the ''

Journal of the American Chemical Society The ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the ''Journal of Analytical ...

'' (1984–2016), as (successively) editor, editor-in-chief, associate editor, and chief advisory editor of Theoretical Chemistry Accounts (formerly ''

Theoretica Chimica Acta ''Theoretical Chemistry Accounts: Theory, Computation, and Modeling'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing original (primary) research and review articles in theoretical chemistry, physical chemistry, quantum chemistry, and computation ...

'') (1985–present), and as a principal editor of ''

Computer Physics Communications ''Computer Physics Communications'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier under the North-Holland imprint. The journal focuses on computational methodology, numerical analysis and hardware and software development in support ...

'' (1986–2015). He is currently a Regents professor at the University of Minnesota.

References

External links

The Truhlar Group Google Scholar Citations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truhlar, Donald G. 1944 births Living people University of Minnesota faculty Theoretical chemists 21st-century American chemists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Schrödinger Medal recipients Computational chemists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Chemical Society Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Sloan Research Fellows American people of Czech descent