Mark S. Gordon
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| Mark S. Gordon | |
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| Name | Mark S. Gordon |
| Birth date | 1942 |
| Birth place | Chicago, Illinois |
| Fields | Theoretical chemistry, Quantum chemistry, Computational chemistry |
| Workplaces | University of Pittsburgh, Iowa State University, Ames Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign |
| Alma mater | Harvard University, University of Chicago |
| Doctoral advisor | Per-Olov Löwdin |
| Known for | Valence bond theory, Coupled cluster theory, MCSCF methods, GAMESS development |
| Awards | American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry, ACS Fellow, APS Fellow |
Mark S. Gordon is an American theoretical chemist noted for advances in quantum chemistry, electronic structure theory, and computational methods. His work spans valence bond theory, coupled cluster methods, multiconfigurational self-consistent field approaches, and software development that impacted American Chemical Society-affiliated research, National Science Foundation-funded projects, and national laboratories. Gordon has held academic and research posts at multiple institutions and contributed textbooks and reviews that influenced generations of theoretical chemists and computational chemists.
Early life and education
Gordon was born in Chicago, Illinois and pursued undergraduate and graduate studies that connected him with prominent figures in quantum chemistry and mathematical physics. He completed a bachelor's degree at an institution with ties to Harvard University and followed with doctoral studies under Per-Olov Löwdin at the University of Chicago and collaborative links to groups at Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. During this period he engaged with researchers associated with Linus Pauling, John Pople, Walter Kohn, Douglas Hartree, and contemporary groups at Bell Labs and Los Alamos National Laboratory. His formative training included exposure to techniques developed in the Hartree–Fock tradition and emerging correlation methods such as Configuration Interaction and early Coupled Cluster formulations.
Academic career and positions
Gordon's academic appointments include faculty positions at the University of Pittsburgh, Iowa State University, and visiting positions at national laboratories such as Ames Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. He also held research collaborations and sabbaticals at institutions including Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and international centers such as Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and École Normale Supérieure. Gordon served on advisory committees for organizations like the American Chemical Society, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Energy, and participated in panels organized by the National Academy of Sciences and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. He contributed to graduate training programs linked to Iowa State University and the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign.
Research contributions and theories
Gordon made foundational contributions to methods in electronic structure theory, including developments in valence bond approaches that interacted with concepts from Linus Pauling-inspired resonance theory and modern Molecular Orbital Theory as practiced by groups around John Pople and Walter Kohn. He advanced multiconfigurational self-consistent field (MCSCF) techniques and pioneered implementations of Complete Active Space Self-Consistent Field (CASSCF)-style methods, influencing research at institutions such as Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work on coupled cluster theory connected to efforts by Jürgen Schirmer, Rudolph A. Marcus, and Heinz-Jürgen Werner, and he collaborated on algorithms for excited states, response theory, and analytic gradients akin to those developed at University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich. Gordon contributed to electronic structure program development in the tradition of John Pople's group and the GAMESS and Gaussian communities, interfacing with software projects at Sandia National Laboratories and Argonne National Laboratory. He published on correlated wavefunction diagnostics related to Natural Bond Orbital analyses popularized by Frank Weinhold and on embedding techniques resonant with approaches at Princeton University and Columbia University.
Awards and honors
Gordon received recognition from major scientific societies, including awards and fellowships from the American Chemical Society and the American Physical Society. He was named an ACS Fellow and an APS Fellow, and he was honored with the ACS Award in Theoretical Chemistry and other distinctions presented at meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry. His invited lectures and named seminars included appearances at Gordon Research Conferences, the Faraday Society-linked symposia, and plenary talks at the International Congress of Quantum Chemistry and the European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering.
Selected publications and textbooks
Gordon authored and coauthored influential research articles and contributed chapters to edited volumes published by presses associated with Springer, Wiley, and Oxford University Press. His papers appeared in journals such as the Journal of Chemical Physics, Chemical Reviews, Accounts of Chemical Research, Journal of Physical Chemistry A, and Physical Review Letters. He contributed textbook material and review chapters alongside scholars from Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley, addressing topics ranging from correlated methods to computational implementations used by the GAMESS and Gaussian communities.
Personal life and legacy
Gordon's mentorship influenced students and postdoctoral researchers who went on to careers at universities and national laboratories including University of California, Los Angeles, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, and University of Washington. His legacy endures through software contributions, methodological innovations cited by scholars at Imperial College London, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, and through curricular influences at departments such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology. Gordon's body of work remains part of the corpus studied by researchers engaged with topics connected to quantum Monte Carlo, density functional theory, and post-Hartree–Fock approaches.
Category:American chemists Category:Theoretical chemists Category:Computational chemists Category:1942 births Category:Living people