Treating nuclei in molecules with quantum mechanical respect

Brian Sutcliffe

(Laboratoire de Chimie quantique et Photophysique,
 Université Libre de Bruxelles)

Abstract

Although the first attempts at quantum mechanical calculations on molecules involved treating the nuclei as classical particles, the recognition that the nuclei really were quantum particles led to subsequent attempts to treat them properly. This work was largely confined to diatomics until the 1960s when the first work on a polyatomic (ammonia) was attempted. In this talk I shall try to outline what has happened in the endeavours since then, to provide some background for the talks that follow.