Synopsis:
The crucial significance of symmetry to the development of group theory and in the fields of physics and chemistry cannot be overstated, and this well-organized volume provides an excellent introduction to the topic.
The text develops the elementary ideas of both group theory and representation theory in a progressive and thorough fashion, leading students to a point from which they can proceed easily to more elaborate applications. The finite groups describing the symmetry of regular polyhedral and of repeating patterns are emphasized, and geometric illustrations of all main processes appear here — including more than 100 fully worked examples.
Designed to be read at a variety of levels and to allow students to focus on any of the main fields of application, this volume is geared toward advanced undergraduate and graduate physics and chemistry students with the requisite mathematical background.
Peter Bernath was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and was educated at the University of Waterloo (B. Sc. in chemistry 1976) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph. D. in physical chemistry 1980). After a post-doctoral stint at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics of the National Research Council of Canada, he began his academic career at the University of Arizona in 1982. In 1991, he moved to the University of Waterloo as Professor of Chemistry and of Physics and now holds an Industrial Research Chair in Fourier Transform Spectroscopy. Prof. Bernath has interests in high resolution spectroscopy of molecules with applications in astronomy and atmospheric science. He is the author of the textbook Spectra of Atoms and Molecules.
Roy McWeeny's academic career spans five decades. After a first degree in Physics (Leeds University) and a D.Phil. from Oxford University (where he worked with C.A. Coulson), he was appointed Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, University of Durham. In the mid-1950s he was an invited member of J.C. Slater's famous Solid-State and Molecular Theory Group at MIT; and in 1960 spent a year as Associate Director of P.-O. Lowdin's Quantum Theory Group at Uppsala University. His other University appointments include a Lectureship in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry (University of Keele, UK); a Readership in Quantum Theory, a personal Chair of Theoretical Physics and Theoretical Chemistry, and a Chair of Chemistry (University of Sheffield, UK). In 1982 he became the first foreign scholar (following a Ministerial Decree) to be called to an Italian University Chair, taking up the position of Professore Ordinario di Chimica Teorica, UniversitA di Pisa, where hebecame Professore Emerito in 1998. He is a Member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science (elected 1973); and a Member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and the Humanities (elected 1986). In 1996 a Special Issue of the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry (Volume 60) was published in his honour: it contains sixty scientific papers, contributed by authors from many countries.
Stephen Wilson has published over 300 scientific papers and reviews, principally in theoretical and computational chemistry and molecular physics, but also in computing science and numerical analysis. He has authored two books - Electron correlation in molecules, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1984, and Chemistry by Computer: An overview of the applications of computers in chemistry, Plenum Press, New York, 1986, and has edited some 21 volumes. He is an Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Theoretical Chemistry and Physics and Series Editor of Methods in Computational Chemistry. Dr. Wilson holds a D.Sc. from the University of Bristol.
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