ley Parr
Robert
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ientist
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chemistry to Walter Kohn for his work on density func-
tional theory and John Pople for his work on ab initio
quantum chemistry.
Catalyst–Oxide
Assemblies
An important element in synthetic organic
chemistry has been the development and
application of organic excited states in
solution, either by sensitization or electron
transfer catalysis. Exploitation of organic
excited states has evolved from the bench
scale to the photochemical reactor scale.
Parr’s contributions to chemistry are characterized by
his visionary approach and his foresight. In the speech
at the American Chemical Society Southeast Regional
Symposium in honor of Parr in 1998, Chemistry Nobel
Prize winner John Pople summarized Parr’s contribu-
tions: “I have followed Bob Parr’s footsteps through-
out my career, starting from the field of semiempirical
quantum chemistry to the latest effort in density func-
tional theory.”
In addition to his ground-breaking contributions to
computational quantum theory, Parr was, of course,
considered the father of conceptual DFT for chemistry, as clear-
ly presented in the acclaimed Parr-Yang book, Density-Functional
Theory of Atoms and Molecules, 1989.
Robert Parr was a rare scientist and a special person who made
thrilling contributions to chemistry while profoundly affecting the
lives of the many young scientists whom he mentored and who
have had contact with him and his work.
In honor of Bob Parr’s scientific achievements and on the occa-
sion of his 92nd birthday, an international conference “Frontiers
of Theoretical Chemistry - the Parr Celebration,” was held in the
Auditorium of French Family Science Center at Duke University,
on Saturday, September 7, 2013. Over fifty participants, Parr’s
scientific and international family and friends, gathered to pres-
ent exciting new progress in the field Parr pioneered. There were
over twenty presentations throughout the day. The meeting ended
in the evening with a symposium dinner, where there were more
speeches on reminiscences about Bob’s life and career.
Obituary originally published in Angewandte Chemie, and is used by permission.
In a parallel effort, with a different focus,
advances have also been made in exploit-
ing nanoparticle oxide surfaces for energy
conversion applications based on chemi-
cally bound molecular reactants, which has
the advantage of maximization of the local
microscopic surface volume for enhancing
efficiencies.
In a collaborative effort between the David
Nicewicz and Thomas Meyer groups, pub-
lished in PNAS, researchers describe the
integration of the two areas with the goal
of creating stable photochemical environ-
ments that minimize reaction volumes in
photooxidation reactions. The results pre-
sented, provide a basis for extension to
larger scales and to catalyst–oxide assem-
blies with potential applications for larg-
er-scale organic reactions.