Nicholas Charles Handy (17 June 1941 – 2 October 2012) was a British theoretical chemist. He retired as Professor of

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 ...

at the University of Cambridge in September 2004.

Education and early life

Handy was born in Wiltshire, England and educated at Clayesmore School. He studied the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge and completed his PhD on theoretical chemistry supervised by

Samuel Francis Boys Samuel Francis (Frank) Boys (20 December 1911 – 16 October 1972) was a British theoretical chemist. Education Boys was born in Pudsey, Yorkshire, England. He was educated at the Grammar School in Pudsey and then at Imperial College London ...

Research

Handy wrote 320 scientific papers published in

physical Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally co ...

and theoretical chemistry journals. Handy developed several methods in quantum chemistry and theoretical

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...

. His contributions have helped greatly to the understanding of: * the transcorrelated method * the long range behaviour of Hartree–Fock orbitals * semiclassical methods for vibrational energies * the

variational method The calculus of variations (or Variational Calculus) is a field of mathematical analysis that uses variations, which are small changes in functions and functionals, to find maxima and minima of functionals: mappings from a set of functions t ...

for rovibrational wave-functions (in

normal mode A normal mode of a dynamical system is a pattern of motion in which all parts of the system move sinusoidally with the same frequency and with a fixed phase relation. The free motion described by the normal modes takes place at fixed frequencies. ...

and internal coordinates) * Full configuration interaction with

Slater determinant In quantum mechanics, a Slater determinant is an expression that describes the wave function of a multi-fermionic system. It satisfies anti-symmetry requirements, and consequently the Pauli principle, by changing sign upon exchange of two electro ...

s (benchmark studies) * convergence of the Møller–Plesset series * the reaction path Hamiltonian *

Anharmonic In classical mechanics, anharmonicity is the deviation of a system from being a harmonic oscillator. An oscillator that is not oscillating in harmonic motion is known as an anharmonic oscillator where the system can be approximated to a ha ...

spectroscopic and thermodynamic properties using higher derivative methods * Brueckner-doubles theory * Open shell Møller–Plesset theory * frequency-dependent properties * Density functional theory : quadrature, new functionals and molecular properties.

Awards and honours

Handy was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1990. He was awarded the Leverhulme Medal in 2002 and was a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.

Death

On 2 October 2012 Nicholas died after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handy, Nicholas C. 1941 births 2012 deaths British chemists Theoretical chemists Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Fellows of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Schrödinger Medal recipients People educated at Clayesmore School