From jsl@virgil.ruc.dk Fri Jun 27 07:48:18 1997 Received: from emma.ruc.dk for jsl@virgil.ruc.dk by www.ccl.net (8.8.3/950822.1) id HAA09999; Fri, 27 Jun 1997 07:43:29 -0400 (EDT) Received: from virgil.ruc.dk (virgil.ruc.dk [130.225.220.110]) by emma.ruc.dk (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA05082; Fri, 27 Jun 1997 13:48:45 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from VIRGIL/MAILQUEUE by virgil.ruc.dk (Mercury 1.21); 27 Jun 97 13:41:42 +0100 Received: from MAILQUEUE by VIRGIL (Mercury 1.21); 27 Jun 97 13:41:32 +0100 From: "Jens Spanget-Larsen" Organization: Roskilde Universitetscenter To: Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 13:41:28 +0100 Subject: Re: CCL:CC semantics CC: chemistry@www.ccl.net Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.23) Message-ID: <332891C47AF@virgil.ruc.dk> Buyong Ma, 23 Jun 1997: > We all know that computational chemistry is a young discipline ... I disagree. To me, computational chemistry started around 1800 with Dalton's law of multiple proportions, Gay-Lussac's law of relative volumes of reacting gases, etc. Indeed, the latter chemist stated almost two centuries ago: "We are perhaps not far removed from the time when we shall be able to submit the bulk of chemical phenomena to calculation" (J.L. Gay-Lussac, 1808) And Charles Babbage, the "Father of the Computer": "All of chemistry, and with it crystallography, would become a branch of mathematical analysis which, like astronomy, taking its constants from observation, would enable us to predict the character of any new compound and possibly the source from which its formation might be anticipated" (Ch. Babbage, 1838) At the time of these writers computational chemistry was little more than a dream, but Babbage's vision is uncannily precise in its predictions! Evidently, the concept of computational chemistry is as old as the history of modern chemistry. Jems >--< Quotes from T J O'Donnell http://www.eecs.uic.edu/~tj/quotes.html#computational_chemistry =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= JENS SPANGET-LARSEN Department of Chemistry Phone: +45 46757781 + 2710 Roskilde University (RUC) Fax: +45 46757721 P.O.Box 260 E-Mail: JSL@virgil.ruc.dk DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark http://frederik.ruc.dk/dis/chem/psos =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=