John Pople Quotes, Sayings, Remarks, Thoughts and Speeches
John Pople Quotes and Sayings
- 1
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.
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- 2
Cambridge in 1947 had greatly changed since 1943. The university was crowded with students in their late 20s who had spent many years away at the war.
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- 3
From an early age I was told that I was expected to do more than continue to run a small business. Education was important and seen as a way of moving forward.
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- 4
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.
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- 5
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.
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- 6
I developed an interest in nuclear magnetic resonance, which was then emerging as a powerful technique for studying molecular structure.
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- 7
I found a discarded textbook on calculus in a wastebasket and read it from cover to cover.
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- 8
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.
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- 9
I had to leave Cambridge and take up industrial employment for a period. This was with the Bristol Aeroplane Company. There was little to do there.
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- 10
I have had many opportunities to visit universities all over the world in the past 50 years.
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- 11
I was a close observer of the developments in molecular biology.
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- 12
I was approaching the age of 40 with a substantial publication record, but had not yet held any position in a chemistry department.
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- 13
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.
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- 14
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.
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- 15
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.
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- 16
Like many other Laureates, I have benefit immeasurably from the love and support of my wife and children.
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- 17
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.
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- 18
My contribution to quantum chemistry has depended hugely on work by others. The international community in our field is a close one.
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- 19
On my return to Pittsburgh, I resolved to go back to the fundamental problems of electronic structure that I had contemplated abstractly many years earlier.
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- 20
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.
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