A Semiempirical Life

This volume is an autobiography of Michael Dewar, eminent developer of the semi-empirical method of theoretical/computational chemistry. The personality and charm of this bold, brilliant and frequently brash scientist is vividly demonstrated in his stories, ranging from his early discovery of the structure of colchicine by analysis of literature data to his application of theoretical chemistry to numerous questions of chemical structure and reactivity. Dewar describes his childhood in India, his studies in Oxford in the 1940's, and his subsequent Professorships in England and at the University of Chicago and the University of Texas.