John Pople quotes

John Pople was a British scientist renowned for his pioneering work in computational quantum chemistry. His research led to the development of innovative methods for modeling molecular structures and chemical reactions. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his outstanding contributions to the field. Here are 15 of his quotes:

I abandoned chemistry to concentrate on mathematics and physics. In 1942, I travelled to Cambridge to take the scholarship examination at Trinity College, received an award and entered the university in October 1943.

John Pople

I am delighted to have had students, friends and colleagues in so many nations and to have learned so much of what I know from them. This Nobel Award honours them all.

John Pople

Our children were mostly brought up and educated in the Churchill suburb east of Pittsburgh. Each summer, we took them back to England for an extended period.

John Pople

Sometimes one can improve the theories in the sense of discovering a quicker, more efficient way of doing a given calculation.

John Pople

I was a close observer of the developments in molecular biology.

John Pople

At the age of 12, I developed an intense interest in mathematics. On exposure to algebra, I was fascinated by simultaneous equations and read ahead of the class to the end of the book.

John Pople

I had changed from being a mathematician to a practicing scientist. I was increasingly embarassed that I could no longer follow some of the more modern branches of pure mathematics.

John Pople

Looking through the list of earlier Nobel laureates, I note a large number with whom I became acquainted and with whom I interacted during those years as they passed through Cambridge.

John Pople

Life with a scientist who is often changing jobs and is frequently away at meetings and on lecture tours is not easy. Without a secure home base, I could not have made much progress.

John Pople

In the war, most young men were inducted into the armed forces at the age of 17. A group of students was permitted to attend university before taking part in wartime research projects.

John Pople

I have had many opportunities to visit universities all over the world in the past 50 years.

John Pople

Leaving England was a painful decision, and we still have some regrets about it. However, at that time, the research environment for theoretical chemistry was clearly better in the U.S.

John Pople

I found a discarded textbook on calculus in a wastebasket and read it from cover to cover.

John Pople