Walter Heitler


Heitler, Walter

 

Born Jan. 2, 1904, in Karlsruhe. German physicist.

Heitler studied at the universities of Berlin and Munich. From 1929 to 1933 he was a privatdocent at the University of Göttingen, and from 1933 to 1941 he conducted scientific research at the university in Bristol. He worked at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies from 1945 to 1949, becoming its director in 1949. He has been a professor at the University of Zürich since 1949.

Heitler’s principal work has been in quantum chemistry, the quantum theory of radiation, meson theory, and cosmic rays. In 1927, together with the German scientist F. London, Heitler offered a theoretical explanation for the formation of the homopolar bond in the hydrogen molecule. Heitler has been a member of the Royal Society of London since 1948.

WORKS

Theory of the Chemical Bond, Oxford, 1927.
Quantum Theory of Radiation, Oxford, 1936; 3rd ed., Oxford, 1954.
Elementary Wave Mechanics, Oxford, 1945; 2nd ed., Oxford, 1956.
In Russian translation:
Kvantovaia teoriia i gomeopoliarnaia khimicheskaia sviaz’. Kharkov, 1934.
Kvantovaia teoriia izlucheniia, Moscow-Leningrad, 1940; 2nd ed., 1956.
Elementarnaia kvantovaia mekhanika. Moscow, 1948.