Acta Vålådalensia Revisited: Per-Olov Löwdin in Scientific Discussion

Abstract

A characteristic trait of Per-Olov Löwdin is that every scientific question which interested him lead to a more general formulation. As an intrinsic structuralist he very soon goes beyond a specific problem towards the conceptual borderlines. Quantum Science as a whole is his problem — this justifies the title of this book. In order to illustrate this eagerness to draw a map of the mountain range at the same time as climbing a top we include a paper by Löwdin on the connection between chemistry and quantum chemistry. It was presented during the first summer school organized by him, in Vålådalen, Sweden, in 1958. It finished with a panel discussion which is a precursor of the many Symposia in Florida and Scandinavia. A rather complete version of the proceedings was circulated as Technical Note 16 (no longer available) from the Uppsala Quantum Chemistry Group. It had the unofficial name of Acta Vålådalensia.