Russell Mosher Pitzer (born May 10, 1938) is an American

theoretical chemist Theoretical chemistry is the branch of chemistry which develops theoretical generalizations that are part of the theoretical arsenal of modern chemistry: for example, the concepts of chemical bonding, chemical reaction, valence, the surface o ...

and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. He was born in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

and attended public schools in this and the Washington, D.C. area. He received his B.S. in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

in 1959 from the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

, his A.M. in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1963, and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

chemical physics Chemical physics is a branch of physics that studies chemical processes from a physical point of view. It focuses on understanding the physical properties and behavior of chemical systems, using principles from both physics and chemistry. This ...

from

in 1963.

At Harvard, Pitzer worked with William N. Lipscomb, Jr. in cooperation with the research group of John C. Slater at

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sci ...

to develop computer programs to use

Slater orbitals Slater-type orbitals (STOs) or Slater-type functions (STFs) are functions used as atomic orbitals in the linear combination of atomic orbitals molecular orbital method. They are named after the physicist John C. Slater, who introduced them in 1930 ...

to produce self-consistent field (SCF)

molecular orbital In chemistry, a molecular orbital is a mathematical function describing the location and wave-like behavior of an electron in a molecule. This function can be used to calculate chemical and physical properties such as the probability of finding ...

s. The

ethane Ethane ( , ) is a naturally occurring Organic compound, organic chemical compound with chemical formula . At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas. Like many hydrocarbons, ethane is List of purification methods ...

barrier (see diagram at right) was first calculated accurately by Pitzer and Lipscomb using Hartree Fock Self-Consistent Field (SCF) theory. Ethane gives a classic, simple example of such a

rotational barrier In chemistry, rotamers are chemical species that differ from one another primarily due to rotations about one or more single bonds. Various arrangements of atoms in a molecule that differ by rotation about single bonds can also be referred to as ...

, the minimum energy to produce a 360-degree bond rotation of a molecular substructure. The three hydrogens at each end are free to pinwheel about the central carbon-carbon bond, provided that there is sufficient energy to overcome the barrier of the carbon-hydrogen bonds at each end of the molecule bumping into each other by way of overlap (exchange) repulsion. Also at Harvard, Pitzer also helped formulate the perturbed Hartree–Fock equations in a form for calculating the effects of external electric and magnetic fields on molecules. He was a

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

fellow at

and a faculty member at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

before joining the chemistry department at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

in 1968. He was promoted to professor in 1979 and served as department chair from 1989 to 1994. His group wrote computer software to enable calculation of molecular energies and other properties. In 1979, with John Yates, he published the first Jahn-Teller-Effect study (on

cobalt trifluoride Cobalt(III) fluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula . Hydrates are also known. The anhydrous compound is a hygroscopic brown solid. It is used to synthesize organofluorine compounds. The related cobalt(III) chloride is also known but ...

, CoF₃) to use a computed energy surface. An early application with A. Chang was the first assignment of the visible spectrum of

uranocene Uranocene, U(C8H8)2, is an organouranium compound composed of a uranium atom sandwiched between two cyclooctatetraene, cyclooctatetraenide rings. It was one of the first Organoactinide chemistry, organoactinide compounds to be synthesized. It is a ...

. During 1986–87 he served as acting associate director of the

Ohio Supercomputer Center The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) is a supercomputer facility located on the western end of the Ohio State University campus, just north of Columbus. Established in 1987, the OSC partners with Ohio universities, labs and industries, providing s ...

, cofounding the center and the Ohio Academic Resources Network. During 2001–03 he served as interim director of the Ohio Supercomputer Center. In 2004 he received the Faculty Award For Distinguished University Service. He retired in 2008.Pitzer bio on OSUChem website
/ref> His father was former Stanford University president

Kenneth Pitzer Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer (January 6, 1914 – December 26, 1997) was an American physical and theoretical chemist, educator, and university president. He was described as "one of the most influential physical chemists of his era" whose work "span ...

and his grandfather, Russell K. Pitzer, founded

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was founded in 1963 as a women's college in the Claremont Colleges consortium and became coeducational in 1970. Pitzer enrolls approximately 1000 students. Pitzer off ...

, one of the seven

Claremont Colleges The Claremont Colleges (known colloquially as the 7Cs) are a consortium of seven private university, private institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California, United States. They comprise five undergraduate colleges (the 5Cs)� ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Russell M. Pitzer served as a trustee of Pitzer College from 1988 to 2012, and in 2003 received a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree in recognition of this service. In 2018 the Ohio Supercomputer Center named their newly purchased supercomputer Pitzer in honor of his role in founding the center.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitzer, Russell M. Living people Harvard University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology fellows Ohio State University faculty 21st-century American chemists American theoretical chemists California Institute of Technology alumni 1938 births 20th-century American chemists Scientists from Berkeley, California