John Clarke Slater

Born Dec. 22, 1900, in Oak Park, III. American physicist.

Slater received an A.M. degree in 1922 and a Ph.D. degree in 1923 from Harvard University. In 1923 and 1924 he studied at Cambridge University and the University of Copenhagen. He joined the teaching staff of Harvard University in 1924. In 1930, Slater became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he headed a group dealing with molecular and solid state theory. He became a professor at the University of Florida in 1964.

Slater’s principal works are devoted to the application of the methods of quantum mechanics to the theory of the electron shells of atoms and molecules. He proposed techniques for the obtaining of approximate eigenfunctions and used the techniques in solid state theory. He wrote textbooks on chemical physics, electromagnetism, the quantum theory of atoms and molecules, quantum chemistry, and solid state theory.