S F Boys-A Rahman Award 2009 winner

Awarded for his pioneering development and applications of the coupled-cluster theory of quantum chemistry.

About the winner

Rod Bartlett pioneered the development of coupled-cluster theory in quantum chemistry to offer highly accurate solutions of the Schrödinger equation for molecular structure and spectra. His group is responsible for the widely used ACES program system.

Other research topics include the search for metastable, high-energy density molecules like N5-; non-linear optics; carbon clusters; NMR coupling constants across H bonds; new correlated quantum chemical methods for polymers and surfaces; ab initio density functional theory; and the 'transfer Hamiltonian"  for large scale quantum mechanical simulations of materials. 

Professor Bartlett is a fellow of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences (1991), the American Physical Society (1986), and the Guggenheim Foundation (1986). He was an E.T.S. Walton fellow in Ireland (2003). He served as chairman of the Subdivision of Theoretical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (1987). 

He was awarded the ACS award for Theoretical Chemistry in 2007 and the 2008 Shrödinger Medal of WATOC. He was also awarded the Florida ACS Award in 2000.

After postdoctoral work, Dr Bartlett spent 7 years at Battelle Memorial Institute, first at the DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and then at Battelle in Columbus, Ohio. In 1981 he moved to the University of Florida as Professor of Chemistry and Physics.

He was named Graduate Research Professor in 1987, a rank held by only a handful of faculty. He maintains a group of a dozen people.

He has published over 500 papers and chapters and presented over 200 invited lectures at major meetings. According to the Institute for Scientific Information, he is among the most cited chemists in the world.