Moffitt, William

My interest at that time revolved around evaluating optical rotary dispersion data [12]. The paired values of optical rotation vs. wavelength were used to fit a function called the Drude equation (later modified to the Moffitt equation for William Moffitt [Harvard University] who developed the theory) [13]. The coefficients of the evaluated equation were shown to be related to a significant ultraviolet absorption band of a protein and to the amount of alpha-helix conformation existing in the solution of it. 

McGhee R, Williams S, Poulton R and Moffitt T. (2000). A longitudinal study of cannabis use and mental health from adolescence to early adulthood. Addiction, 95, 491-504. 

Some, like William Moffitt, did not see computation as the business of theoreticians he took the view that If I can t get the numbers on the back of an envelope I do without numbers . Along this line there were many who put their effort into the theoretical basis of broad features, like aromatic character, and the spatial distribution of valence bonds, and the valence state, which were above the noise level of electronic structure calculations possible at the time. 

I owe much to J. Arthur Campbell, Luke E. Steiner, and William Moffitt, gifted teachers who introduced me to the elegant logic and practical utility of thermodynamics. I am immensely grateful to my wife Stephanie for her continued encouragement and patience during the period this book went from concept to reality. 

In closing I should like to express my deep indebtedness to the late Professor William E. Moffitt who initiated and encouraged my interest in vibronic phenomena, both as a graduate student and as a post-graduate scientist. My scientific outlook and approach to such problems stem quite directly from his inspirational guidance. It is with great sadness that I now look back at the untimely death of this fine human being. 

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