Włodzimierz Kołos (1928 - 1996) was a Polish

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

who was one of the founders of modern

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 ...

, and pioneered accurate calculations on the electronic structure of molecules.

Life and scientific work

Kołos was born on September 6, 1928 in Pinsk. He received his M.Sc. in chemistry in 1950 and began his academic career as an organic chemist. However, he was soon attracted to theoretical physics. He began his graduate studies in theoretical physics in 1951 and completed his thesis in only two years. The

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

and the Polish Chemical Society award the

Kołos Medal The Kołos Medal (Polish: ''Medal im. Włodzimierza Kołosa'') is a prestigious medal awarded every two years by the University of Warsaw and the Polish Chemical Society for distinction in theoretical or experimental physical chemistry. It was est ...

every two years to commemorate his life and career. Kołos is best known for his work on the theory of electron correlation in molecules. In 1958 he went the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, at a time when powerful computers were first becoming available for scientific work. He developed a new computer program to solve the

Schrödinger equation The Schrödinger equation is a linear partial differential equation that governs the wave function of a quantum-mechanical system. It is a key result in quantum mechanics, and its discovery was a significant landmark in the development of the ...

for the hydrogen molecule to unprecedented accuracy. In the early 1960s, Kołos and Wolniewicz published a number of pioneering papers on the potential energy curves of the hydrogen molecule, including several corrections to the

Born–Oppenheimer approximation In quantum chemistry and molecular physics, the Born–Oppenheimer (BO) approximation is the best-known mathematical approximation in molecular dynamics. Specifically, it is the assumption that the wave functions of atomic nuclei and electro ...

, including adiabatic, non-adiabatic, and relativistic terms. One result attracted particular attention: the calculated dissociation energy disagreed with the best experimental data then available, from Gerhard Herzberg’s group. A few years later Herzberg improved his experiment and obtained a new result that agreed with the theoretical prediction. This was the first time that quantum mechanical calculations on a molecule had proved more accurate than the best experiments. Herzberg himself emphasized the importance of this in his Nobel Prize lecture. Kołos established a strong research group in molecular quantum chemistry in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, and made many other important contributions, particularly in the field of intermolecular forces. He made important contributions to the development of the

symmetry-adapted perturbation theory Symmetry-adapted perturbation theory or SAPT is a methodology in electronic structure theory developed to describe non-covalent interactions between atoms and/or molecules. SAPT is a member of the family of methods known as energy decomposition anal ...

of intermolecular forces and carried out pioneering studies on the nonadditivity of intermolecular forces. He was a member of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

, the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science and the Academia Europaea.

Awards and recognition

* Sniadecki Medal * Copernicus Medal * Medal of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities *

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...

Award *

Jurzykowski Prize The Alfred Jurzykowski Prize is an annual prize awarded by the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation in New York City for the translation of Polish language, Polish works into English language, English. Its recipients have included such writers as Witold L ...

* Swietoslawski Award * Annual Medal of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science *

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

of the Adam Mickiewicz University

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolos, Wlodzimierz 1928 births 1996 deaths Polish chemists Members of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science Computational chemists Theoretical chemists Members of Academia Europaea People from Pinsk People from Polesie Voivodeship