Michael J. S. Dewar

Michael James Steuart Dewar (* September 24 1918 in Ahmednagar, † October 10, 1997 in Gainesville ( Florida) ) was a chemist.

Life

His parents came from Scotland. His father worked for the British government of India.

At Oxford he made the Bachelor's and Ph.D. degree at Balliol College. In 1951 he took over the teaching in chemistry at Queen Mary, University of London. In 1959 he went to the University of Chicago. From 1963 he conducted research at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1989 he moved to the University of Florida, where he was professor emeritus five years later.

He married in 1944 Mary Williamson, with whom he had two sons, including Robert Dewar. He survived his wife, who died in 1994, lung cancer, by several years.

Work

In 1945 he determined the structure of stipitatic acid. This is one of the then new material group of Tropolone whose name he coined. With a number of other works, he contributed significantly to advances in theoretical chemistry. He contributed numerous articles to computational models in quantum chemistry. He has received numerous awards, among others, he was honored with membership in the Royal Society. In 1982 he received the Davy Medal.

Writings

• Electronic Theory of Organic Chemistry, Oxford: Clarendon Press 1949
• Introduction to Modern Chemistry, Oxford University Press 1965
• Molecular orbital, Springer Verlag 1971
• Hyperconjugation, New York: Ronald Press 1962
• With Ralph C. Dougherty: PMO Theory of Organic Chemistry, New York: Plenum 1975
• A semiempirical Life, Washington DC, American Chemical Society, 1992
• Molecular Orbital Theory of Organic Chemistry, McGraw Hill 1969