Dr. Josef Paldus

After pursuing theoretical polarography, quantum theory of molecular spectra and high resolution electronic spectroscopy of larger molecules during earlier stages of his career, he devoted himself to the quantum theory of the molecular electronic structure. He has particularly contributed to the stability theory of Hartree-Fock solutions and to the coupled cluster approach. Most important, however, proved to be his formulation of the unitary group approach to the electronic correlation problem, the basic objects of which are now referred to as Paldus tableau. This method is currently exploited and further developed in many laboratories and its elegance, simplicity, power and universality make it already the most efficient and versatile existing technique for accurate quantum mechanical determination of molecular electronic structure.