Eric J. Heller

Infobox_Scientist
name = Eric J. Heller

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caption = Eric Heller (2005)
birth_date = 1946
residence = Cambridge, MA
nationality = American
field = Theoretical Chemistry
Physics
work_institution = Harvard, UCLA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of Washington
alma_mater = Harvard University
doctoral_advisor = William P. Reinhardt
doctoral_students =
known_for = Pioneering a time-dependent perspective of molecular spectroscopy and reaction dynamics.
prizes = National Academy of Sciences (2006), American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry (2005).
religion =

Eric (Rick) Heller (born 1946) is a full professor of chemistry and of physics at Harvard University. Heller is known for his work on time dependent quantum mechanics, and also for producing digital art based on the results of his numerical calculations.

Heller is principally known for pioneering a time-dependent wavepacket picture of quantum mechanics, which allowed the excited-state dynamics of large quantum mechanical systems to be understood without calculating eigenstates. Heller's work laid the foundations for a theoretical understanding of femtochemistry. Heller has also made seminal contributions to methodology, suggesting the technique called "frozen Gaussians"--today the most widely used semiclassical initial value representation (IVR) method of wavepacket propagation.

In physics, Heller is known for his work on quantum chaos, particularly on scar theory. Heller's more recent work has focused on the study of two dimensional electron gases, quantum mirages in quantum corrals, scattering theory, few-body quantum mechanics, semiclassical methods, and freak waves in the ocean. Many (though not all) of these studies make use of the time-dependent quantum mechanics ideas from his earlier work.

Heller is an elected member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, the National Academy of Sciences, and a number of other scientific societies. Prior to coming to Harvard in 1998, he held faculty positions at the University of Washington, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the University of California, Los Angeles. At Harvard, he served as the director of the Institute for Theoretical Atomic Physics (ITAMP) from 1993-1998.

Heller's father was the economist Walter Heller.

External links

* [http://www-heller.harvard.edu The Heller Group website at Harvard
]
* [http://www.ericjhellergallery.com The Eric J. Heller Gallery
]

Sources

* [http://www.iaqms.org/members/IAQMS.member.Heller.html International Academy of Quantum and Molecular Sciences
]
* [http://www.nisenet.org/artnano/artists/heller/biography/ Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network
]