Roy McWeeny (19 May 1924 – 29 April 2021) was a British academic physicist and chemist.
McWeeny was born in
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
,
Yorkshire in May 1924. His first degree was in physics from the
University of Leeds. He then obtained a D.Phil. in
mathematical physics and quantum theory under the supervision of
Charles Coulson at the
Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford.
From 1948 to 1957 he was lecturer in
physical chemistry at King's College,
University of Durham (King's College is now the
University of Newcastle upon Tyne). From 1957 to 1965 he was at the
University of Keele
Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University Coll ...
rising to Professor of
Theoretical Physics and
Theoretical Chemistry. From 1966 to 1982 he was Professor of
Theoretical Chemistry at the
University of Sheffield. In 1982 he moved to the
University of Pisa,
Italy where he remained an
Emeritus Professor until his death.
In 1996 a celebratory ''festschrift'' volume was published in his honour containing original
papers by 132 scientists from 19 countries. He was awarded the 2006 Spiers Memorial Medal by the Faraday Division of the
Royal Society of Chemistry and the Medal Lecture, "Quantum chemistry: The first seventy years", was published in
Faraday Discussions. He has served on the editorial board of
Molecular Physics,
Chemical Physics Letters and
International Journal of Quantum Chemistry.
He has written many scientific papers and seven books, of which perhaps the best known are ''Coulson's Valence'' in 1979, an update of the famous book by
Charles Coulson originally written in 1951, and the two editions of ''Methods of Molecular Quantum Mechanics'', (the first edition with B. T. Sutcliffe in 1969 and the second edition alone in 1989). He wrote several chapters in the three volumes of the ''Handbook of Molecular Physics and Quantum Chemistry''. In 1963 he wrote ''Symmetry : an introduction to group theory and its applications''.
From 2002 he edited an open-access series o
Basic Books in Science several of which he authored himself. He was also an elected member of the
International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science and the
European Academy of Arts, Sciences and the Humanities
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
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** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...
.
McWeeny died in
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
,
Italy in April 2021 at the age of 96.
Ateneo in lutto per la scomparsa del professor Roy Mcweeny
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References
His International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science page
External links
His Learning Development Institute resume
* International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, (1996), Volume 60, 3. His autobiography.
{{DEFAULTSORT:McWeeny, Roy
1924 births
2021 deaths
Academics of Durham University
Academics of Keele University
Academics of the University of Sheffield
Alumni of University College, Oxford
Alumni of the University of Leeds
British physical chemists
Members of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science
People from Bradford
Theoretical chemists