Harold Varner McIntosh (1929–2015) was an American computational physicist who worked for many years in Mexico. Beyond physics, his research interests included

quantum chemistry Quantum chemistry, also called molecular quantum mechanics, is a branch of physical chemistry focused on the application of quantum mechanics to chemical systems, particularly towards the quantum-mechanical calculation of electronic contributions ...

, programming language design, cellular automata, and

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Early life and education

McIntosh was born on March 11, 1929, in Colorado, and was an undergraduate at the Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

), where he graduated in 1949 with a degree in physics. He went on to graduate study at Cornell University, earning a master's degree in 1952. He began doctoral study at Brandeis University, but stopped before completing the program. Much later in his career, he completed a doctorate in quantum chemistry at Uppsala University in Sweden in 1972.

Career and later life

After leaving Brandeis, McIntosh worked at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, and then in the

Research Institute for Advanced Studies The Baltimore-based Research Institute for Advanced Studies (RIAS), not to be confused with the better-known Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, was among the several centers for research in the mathematical and physical science ...

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. In 1962 he moved to the University of Florida to work on quantum theory in the department of physics and astronomy there. In 1964, McIntosh moved to Mexico, where he would work for the rest of his career. He started in the center for research and advanced studies of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, which eventually became CINVESTAV; he worked there on the design of the CONVERT programming language. After another year as director of programming at the computer center of the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

(again working on programming language design) he returned in 1966 to the Instituto Politécnico Nacional as a professor in the School of Physics and Mathematics and coordinator for applied mathematics. Here, as well as the development of programming languages and software for scientific visualization, his interests returned to physics, including issues of

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in the solution of physical equations, and quantum two-body problems involving a magnetic monopole (the so-called MICZ Kepler system, in which the M stands for McIntosh). After nine years at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, McIntosh moved in 1975 to the Institute of Sciences of the

Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla The Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) (Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla) is the oldest and largest university in Puebla, Mexico. Founded on 15 April 1578 as Colegio del Espíritu Santo, the school was sponsored by the ...

, where he became the founding director of the Department of Microcomputer Applications. There, his interests shifted to cellular automata for the final decades of his career. He died in Puebla, Mexico on November 30, 2015.

Recognition

McIntosh was a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. In 2008, a special issue of the ''Journal of Cellular Automata'' was published in his honor.

Selected publications

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References

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:McIntosh, Harold V. 1929 births 2015 deaths American physicists Programming language designers Cellular automatists Colorado State University alumni Cornell University alumni Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional Academic staff of the Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla Members of the Mexican Academy of Sciences