A Bid for Big Science

In summary then, the story of the effort to create the National Resource for Computation in Chemistry was one of determination and persistence, in particular on the part of such individuals as Harrison Shull and Peter Lykos. Like a cat with nine lives, the idea of a national center simply would not die. The center was to represent the coming of age of computational chemistry. Following the examples of the national accelerator laboratories of physics and the national observatories of astronomy, the National Resource for Computation in Chemistry was to be chemistry s bid to enter the realm of big science. As Shull stated in 1974 I really am impressed with the fact that chemistry has a tendency, because it is a little science, to develop chemists who think small. I want to say that it is high time for chemistry to be bold and not timid, to look ahead with visions rather than with minute concern about the little things that seem to bother us and bog us down. °... 

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