Theoretical chemistry

08/17/2023

My PhD supervisor was in the department of theoretical chemistry at Sydney University, which meant when though my PhD was in physical chemistry, that I was officially enrolled in theoretical chemistry. They needed the numbers basically.

This meant that every week I got to go to theoretical chemistry seminars. Although blindingly bored by their gumpf, absent a mobile phone, my brain slowly pieced together their spiel.

Good for actually nothing, they we’re all trying to solve problems which mankind already had adequate solutions to. There were three of four competing schools of approach, and geez weren’t they competitive.

When one accidentally got close to a real life measured value you should have seen the crowing. The politics in academia are vicious because the stakes are so low…

Basically it was a whole field of applied mathematics. The basic equations were unsolvable with current computers, so massive assumptions were made to render the computation feasible.

Train spotting, if your will. My shortcut is better than yours…

If and when we have quantum computers all these mathematical short cut assumptions can be thrown out of the window. Basically 100 years of academic bullshit, tossed.