SCIENCE AT THE SHINE DOME canberra 7 - 9 may 2008
New Fellows Seminar
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Professor David Buckingham
Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
David Buckingham has a science degree from Sydney University. He was an MSc student of Raymond Le Fèvre, graduating in 1953. He was a Shell Postgraduate Scholar at the University of Cambridge for two years, gaining a PhD under the supervision of John Pople. David was a lecturer at the University of Oxford for ten years, professor of theoretical chemistry at the University of Bristol for four years and professor of chemistry at the University of Cambridge for eighteen years. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Science, Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, and Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge.
The hydrogen bond
What is a hydrogen bond? It is a topic that seems to have perpetual youth. Its bond energy is typically about ten times thermal energy, making it crucial in molecular biology since it can be made and broken at room temperature. The bond between water molecules is responsible for water being a liquid and for its abnormal properties of shrinking on melting and further warming. The hydrogen bond is primarily an electrostatic interaction. It normally decreases the vibrational frequency of the hydrogen atom forming the bond but 'blue' shifts are occasionally obtained. Recent work aims to increase our understanding of the hydrogen bond so that it can be modelled more successfully.
