Ralph Pearson
Page Module:Message box/ambox.css has no content.
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2013) |
Script error: No such module "Template wrapper".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".
Ralph Gottfrid Pearson (January 12, 1919 – October 12, 2022) was an American physical inorganic chemist best known for the development of the concept of hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB).
He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1943 from Northwestern University, and taught chemistry at Northwestern faculty from 1946 until 1976, when he moved to University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). He retired in 1989 but remained active in research in theoretical inorganic chemistry until his death.[1][2]
In 1958 Pearson and Fred Basolo, his colleague at Northwestern wrote the influential monograph "Mechanisms of Inorganic Reactions",[3] which integrated concepts from ligand field theory and physical organic chemistry and signaled a shift from descriptive coordination chemistry to a more quantitative science. With another Northwestern colleague, Arthur Atwater Frost, Pearson wrote in 1961 another classic text, Kinetics and Mechanism: A Study of Homogeneous Chemical Reactions (Template:ISBN). A subsequent edition was with John W. Moore as co-author (Template:ISBN).
A qualitative theory of hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB) was proposed in 1963 in an attempt to unify the theories of reactivity in inorganic and organic chemistry.[4] In this theory 'Hard' applies to species that are small, have high charge states, and are weakly polarizable. 'Soft' applies to species that are large, have low charge states and are strongly polarizable. Acids and bases interact, and the most stable interactions are hard–hard and soft–soft.
In 1983 in collaboration with Robert Parr, he refined the HSAB theory into a quantitative method by calculating values of “absolute hardness” using density functional theory, an approximate method in molecular quantum mechanics. This concept of "absolute hardness" was later connected with the concept of (absolute) electronegativity.[5] Pearson died on October 12, 2022, at the age of 103.[1]
Honours
- American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service to Inorganic Chemistry 1970
- Member of National Academy of Sciences 1974
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ralph G. Pearson - Department of Chemistry - UC Santa Barbara". University of California Santa Barbara Chemistry and Biochemistry. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ford, P. C. (1999). "Interview with Ralph G. Pearson". Coordination Chemistry Reviews. 187 (1): 3–15. doi:10.1016/S0010-8545(98)00223-9.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Murmann, R. K. (1968). "Book review of Mechanisms of inorganic reactions - A study of metal complexes in solution (Basolo, Fred; Pearson, Ralph G.)". J. Chem. Educ. 45 (2): A146–A148. doi:10.1021/ed045pA146.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pearson, Ralph G. (1963). "Hard and Soft Acids and Bases". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85 (22): 3533–3539. Bibcode:1963JAChS..85.3533P. doi:10.1021/ja00905a001.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pearson, R. G. (1988). "Absolute electronegativity and hardness: application to inorganic chemistry". Inorganic Chemistry. 27 (4): 734–740. doi:10.1021/ic00277a030. S2CID 55897650.
External links
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Authority control/config' not found.
