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Nicholas C. Handy

Nicholas Handy
Born	Nicholas Charles Handy (1941-06-17)17 June 1941
Died	2 October 2012(2012-10-02) (aged 71)
Awards	FRS (1990)[1] Leverhulme Medal (2002)[2]
Scientific career
Fields	Quantum Chemistry
Institutions	University of Cambridge Johns Hopkins University[3]
Doctoral advisor	Samuel Francis Boys[3]
Doctoral students	Michael Bearpark David Clary Robert J. Harrison Julia Rice
Website	iaqms.org/deceased/handy.php

Nicholas Charles Handy FRS^[1] (17 June 1941 – 2 October 2012) was a British theoretical chemist.^[4][5] He retired as Professor of quantum chemistry at the University of Cambridge in September 2004.^[6]

Education and early life[edit]

Handy was born in Wiltshire, England and educated at Clayesmore School.^[7] He studied the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge^[3] and completed his PhD on theoretical chemistry supervised by Samuel Francis Boys.^[3][8]

Research[edit]

Handy wrote 320 scientific papers published in physical and theoretical chemistry journals.^[1][6][9] Handy developed several methods in quantum chemistry and theoretical spectroscopy. His contributions have helped greatly to the understanding of:

• the transcorrelated method ^[10]
• the long range behaviour of Hartree–Fock orbitals
• semiclassical methods for vibrational energies
• the variational method for rovibrational wave-functions (innormal 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[edit]

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.^[11]

Death[edit]

On 2 October 2012 Nicholas died after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.^[7]

References[edit]