Early Age of Theoretical Chemistry

Theoretical chemistry was officially recognized as a branch of science in France a half-century ago. In April 1948 an international symposium organized in Paris under the auspices of the CNRS and the Rockefeller Foundation offered French chemists the opportunity to interact with the world leaders in this new science, including C. A. Coulson, J. A. A. Ketelaar, H. C. Longuet-Higgins, and R. S. Mulliken. In addition, the first chair entitled theoretical chemistry  

As a consequence, activity in theoretical chemistry was above a critical threshold only in Paris, where thanks to Raymond Daudel and the Pullmans, quite an active intellectual life developed. The vitality of these groups is evident in their scientific production and also in two books that played an important, worldwide role in promoting computational quantum chemistry Quantum Chemistry, Methods and Applications, published in 1959 by Raymond Daudel, Roland Lefebvre, and Carl Moser, and Quantum Biochemistry, published in 1963 by Bernard and Alberte Pullman.  

A community started to develop as a result of the monthly seminars of the CMOA. In addition, the summer schools organized in Menton, in the South of France, soon became an important international meeting place and, from a French point of view, played an important role in helping the small minority of theoretical chemists to take part in the worldwide adventure of their discipline. 

Fortunately the situation was not as stark as it appears if one looks only at the number of academic positions at that time. The CNRS, which created its own hierarchy for full-time research scientists (equivalent to the hierarchy of university professors), offered such positions to many theoretical chemists, thereby expanding the number of theoretical chemists active in France. Indeed, if one limits the list to our now retired colleagues, one should remember that Alberte Pullman, Gaston Berthier, Odilon Chalvet, Carl Moser, Roland Le-febvre, and Alain Veillard spent their full careers with the CNRS. 

During these early years, the French theoretical chemists played an important part in the applications of quantum mechanics to chemistry as described in many papers. Among the most original contributions, one may select a few topics such as  

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