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

Nicholas Charles Handy FRS^[2] (17 June 1941 – 2 October 2012) was a British theoretical chemist.^[3][4] He retired as Professor of quantum chemistry at the University of Cambridge in September 2004.^[5]

Education and early life

Handy was born in Wiltshire, England and educated at Clayesmore School.^[6] He studied the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge^[1] and completed his PhD on theoretical chemistry supervised by Samuel Francis Boys.^[1][7]

Research

Handy wrote 320 scientific papers published in physical and theoretical chemistry journals.^[2][5][8] Handy developed several methods in quantum chemistry and theoretical spectroscopy. His contributions have helped greatly to the understanding of:

• the transcorrelated method ^[9]
• the long range behaviour of Hartree–Fock orbitals
• semiclassical methods for vibrational energies
• the variational method for rovibrational wave-functions (in normal 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^[10]
• Open shell Møller–Plesset theory
• frequency-dependent properties
• Density functional theory : quadrature, new functionals and molecular properties.

Death

On 2 October 2012 Nicholas died after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.^[6]

References