Berkeley chemist awarded Hirschfelder prize

David Chandler, a University of California-Berkeley theoretical chemist and one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of statistical mechanics, has been awarded the Joseph O. Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry.

The Hirschfelder Prize is the largest award in the field of theoretical chemistry. It is awarded annually by UW–Madison Theoretical Chemistry Institute and carries with it a stipend of $10,000.

Chandler, a professor at UC-Berkeley since 1986, is widely known for his studies of the structure and dynamics of liquids. Early in his career, Chandler made significant contributions to the development of the equilibrium theory of the liquid state.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Previous awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1981; the 1987 Joel Henry Hildebrand Award and the 1996 Theoretical Chemistry Award, both from the American Chemical Society.

Chandler will spend a week on the UW–Madison campus beginning Oct. 5. He will give three lectures for UW–Madison students, staff and faculty: N “Structure of the Liquid State: Ideas from van der Waals to Feynman Revisited,” Oct. 5 at 4 p.m., Room 1361, Chemistry Building. N “Hydrophobicity at Small and Large Length Scales: Two Faces of Water,” Oct. 6 at 11 a.m., Room B371, Chemistry. N “Finding Transition Pathways: Throwing Ropes Over Rough Mountain Passes, In the Dark,” Oct. 7 at 2 p.m., Room 8335, Chemistry.

The Hirschfelder Prize is named after the late Joseph O. Hirschfelder, the founder of UW–Madison’s Theoretical Chemistry Institute and a guiding force in modern theoretical chemistry.

A participant in the U.S. effort to build the atomic bomb during World War II, Hirschfelder was the first to predict the existence of radioactive fallout from nuclear explosions. He received the nation’s highest scientific honor, the National Medal of Science, from Gerald R. Ford in 1976. He died in 1990 at the age of 78.

Established in 1992, the Hirschfelder Prize was made possible by a gift from Elizabeth Hirschfelder, Joseph Hirschfelder’s widow and an eminent mathematician. The prize honors the late UW–Madison chemist’s memory by recognizing important research accomplishments in theoretical chemistry and related fields.