Introduction to proceedings of Molecular Quantum Mechanics 2010: from methylene to DNA and beyond

This special issue of Molecular Physics is associated with an international conference, Molecular Quantum Mechanics 2010, which was held on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, from 24 to 29 May 2010. The conference involved more than 250 participants. The conference schedule ran from as early as 8:00 AM to as late as 10:30 PM at night, in order to accommodate six historical lectures, 16 plenary lectures, 42 invited talks and two very strong poster sessions containing 143 contributed posters.

The meeting was generously sponsored by Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, Virginia Tech College of Science, Molecular Physics, Q-Chem Inc and the American Institute of Physics. A conference grant was obtained from the Department of Energy to provide fellowships for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and we gratefully acknowledge this support. We also acknowledge the volunteer efforts from Head-Gordon group students and postdocs to make all aspects of the conference run smoothly, and outstanding administrative assistance from Ms Leslie Silvers.

Since 1989, the Molecular Quantum Mechanics (MQM) series of international conferences has show-cased the frontiers of research in quantum chemistry with a strong focus on basic theory and algorithms, as well as highlights of topical applications. Both were strongly in evidence at MQM 2010. At the same time as embracing the future, the MQM conferences also honour the lifetime contributions of some of the most prominent scientists in the field of theoretical and computational quantum chemistry.

MQM 2010 recognised the work of Prof. Henry F. ‘Fritz’ Schaefer of the Center for Computational Chemistry at the University of Georgia, who was previously on the faculty at Berkeley. Schaefer is widely known for both his development of high-accuracy models of electronic structure and applications of such models to vital chemical problems, as well as the training of a generation of quantum chemists. The special issue includes a detailed biography, written by Crawford 1, as well as personal recollections by Harris (Berkeley) 2. Readers may also be interested in the Special Issue in honour of Prof. Schaefer, published last year in Molecular Physics (Issues 8–12 of Vol. 107) 3 to coincide with his 65th birthday, as well as an earlier Special Issue for his 60th birthday, published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A (Issue 15 of Vol. 108) 4.

Three previous conferences in the Molecular Quantum Mechanics series can also be found in Molecular Physics, including Budapest 2007 in honour of Prof. Peter Pulay [5, Vol. 105, issues 19–22], Cambridge 2004 in honur of Prof. Nicholas Handy [6, Vol. 102, issues 23–24 and Vol. 103, issues 2–3 and 6–8], and Seattle 2001 in honour of Prof. Ernest Davidson [7, Vol. 100, Issues 3–4, 6, 11]. The proceedings for the two earlier meetings were published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry: Cambridge 1995 in memory of Prof. Frank Boys and in honour of Prof. Isaiah Shavitt [8, Issue 15 of Vol. 100], and Athens (USA) 1989 in honour of Prof. John Pople) [9, Issue 14 of Vol. 94].

Finally, looking to the future, the next conference in the MQM series is planned for 2013 in Lugano, Switzerland, and will honour the scientific contributions of Prof. Rod Bartlett (Florida).