It's been a while, what with school getting under way. But I have a minute for a quick post, so I'll take it.
In Advanced Organic Chemistry the other day, we briefly talked on the Heitler-London theory. We were really getting into Valence Bonding theory, and the professor mentioned the theory in passing before moving on. So of course I had to look it up.
Walter Heitler was a German chemist who, among other things, advanced Valence Bond theory to a higher level of understanding. He applied Schrödinger's wave equation, recently published the year before, to the wave-functions of a hydrogen-hydrogen covalent bond. He then called up a young Fritz London, and together they worked out the details of the theory that night. This theory really marks the beginning of "modern valence bond theory", and is still useful today. (Although, as I understand it, MO theory is used for most calculations.)
I'll talk more on London another time, since he has such a remarkable career. However, let me comment on the life of Heitler. He made significant contributions to chemistry during his time, was on the board or was the head of a number of universities, and faced a not insignificant amount of persecution. He was Jewish at the time Hitler came to power in Germany. Thankfully, Max Born was able to secure him a position out of country in Bristol, and was spared for the most part from the dealings of WWII. In his later life, he wrote a number of books on the philosophical reasoning of science and religion, which is not something we talk much about these days. (Perhaps another blog post on this front?)
Bottom line, let us honor our scientific ancestors and respect the work they've done. Standing on the shoulders of giants and all that.
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