William E. Moffitt (9 November 1925 – 19 December 1958) was a British quantum chemist. He died after a heart attack following a

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match.Prof William Moffit, Obituaries, by

Charles Coulson Charles Alfred Coulson (13 December 1910 – 7 January 1974) was a British applied mathematician and theoretical chemist. Coulson's major scientific work was as a pioneer of the application of the quantum theory of valency to problems of mol ...

, The Times, 30 December 1958 page 8 He had been thought to be one of Britain's most gifted academics.

Early life

Moffitt was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

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parents; his father was working in Berlin on behalf of the British government. He was educated by private tuition up to the age of 11. He attended

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

from 1936–43. His chemistry master later said of him that "he was undoubtably the most able of a decade of gifted boys ... ndhas a profound effect on all who met him. He did more than anyone to create in the school the intellectual climate so necessary for the stimulation of young minds".

Academic career

He then studied chemistry at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, under an open scholarship, and graduated with first class honours. His D.Phil. supervisor,

, later wrote:

isexuberant delight in life remained with him to the end. "Moffit's method of Atoms in Molecules" will remain for many years to remind us of his remarkable ability to initiate new ways of thinking in his professional subject.

After receiving his D.Phil. for research in

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 ...

, he joined the research staff of the

British Rubber Producers Research Association The Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre, originally known as the British Rubber Producers' Research Association, carries out research into rubber and is funded by the Malaysian government. Early years: as the British Rubber Producers Research Associa ...

. He was made an Assistant Professor at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in January 1953, and was give an A.M Honoris Causa in 1955. His colleague

Edgar Bright Wilson Edgar Bright Wilson Jr. (December 18, 1908 – July 12, 1992) was an American chemist. Wilson was a prominent and accomplished chemist and teacher, recipient of the National Medal of Science in 1975, Guggenheim Fellowships in 1949 and 1970, th ...

said:

Few men had as great an impact at so early an age. The reasons are clear. Few have been endowed with such a sparkling, quick and keen intelligence, with such a capacity for spending long hours in the thorough study of fundamental subjects ... His intellectual powers were not only applied to the solution of problems but perhaps even more to their wise selection. He avoided areas where only formal solutions were attainable, with no contact with experience.

Doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

students who were advised by Moffitt include R. Stephen Berry and S. M. Blinder.ChemistryTree: William E. Moffitt
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Personal life and interests

He married Dorothy Silberman in 1956 and had a daughter, Alison in June 1958. He was a keen rugby player and enjoyed music and arts and particularly English literature. While sharing a cabin with a monk on a voyage to the UK from the US, he discussed the philosophy of religion with him in their only common language, Latin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffitt, William E. 1925 births 1958 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of New College, Oxford Harvard University faculty English chemists Theoretical chemists