Nicholas C. Handy

Nicholas Charles Handy FRS^[1] (17 June 1941 – 2 October 2012) was a British theoretical chemist.^[9][10] He retired as Professor of quantum chemistry at the University of Cambridge in September 2004.^[11]

Education and early life[]

Handy was born in Wiltshire, England and educated at Clayesmore School.^[12] He studied the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge^[3] and completed his PhD on theoretical chemistry supervised by Samuel Francis Boys.^[3][13]

Research[]

Handy wrote 320 scientific papers published in physical and theoretical chemistry journals.^[1][11][14] Handy developed several methods in quantum chemistry and theoretical spectroscopy. His contributions have helped greatly to the understanding of:

• the transcorrelated method ^[15]
• the long range behaviour of Hartree–Fock orbitals
• semiclassical methods for vibrational energies
• the variational method for rovibrational wave-functions (in normal mode and internal coordinates)
• Full configuration interaction with Slater determinants (benchmark studies)
• convergence of the Møller–Plesset series
• the reaction path Hamiltonian
• Anharmonic spectroscopic and thermodynamic properties using higher derivative methods
• Brueckner-doubles theory^{[citation needed]}
• Open shell Møller–Plesset theory
• frequency-dependent properties
• Density functional theory : quadrature, new functionals and molecular properties.

Awards and honours[]

Handy was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1990.^[1] He was awarded the Leverhulme Medal in 2002^[2] and was a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.^[16]

Death[]

On 2 October 2012 Nicholas died after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.^[12]

References[]