History

The International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science was created in Menton in 1967, with Professors Raymond Daudel (France), Per-Olov Löwdin (Sweden), Robert G. Parr (USA), John A. Pople (USA) and Bernard Pullman (France) as its founding members, under the inspiration and with the support of Professor Louis de Broglie, Nobel Laureate and Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences, Paris. The Academy was planned to have 25 (later 35) regular members under 65 years of age and could have an unlimited number of senior members. This restriction in the number of members (and the distinction between regular and senior members) was deleted from the Academy's Statutes in 2007. The members are chosen among the scientists of all countries who have distinguished themselves by the value of their scientific work, their role of pioneer or leader of a school in the broad field of the application of quantum mechanics to the study of molecules and macromolecules. The Academy has as its main goal to provide a forum for international contact and collaboration and a periodical evaluation of the main developments, advances and promising directions of research in the broad field of its interest.

One of the main initiatives of the Academy was the organization of a series of International Congresses in Quantum Chemistry, with an interval of three years. The first was arranged in Menton (1973), the second in New Orleans (1976), the third in Kyoto (1979), the fourth in Uppsala (1982), the fifth in Montreal (1985), the sixth in Jerusalem (1988), the seventh in Menton (1991), the eighth in Prague (1994), the ninth in Atlanta (1997), the tenth in Menton (2000), the eleventh in Bonn (2003), and the twelveth in Kyoto (2006). The thirteenth Congress was held in Helsinki in June 2009 and the fourteenth Congress is scheduled for June 2012 in Boulder, USA.

Another initiative of the academy consists of an annual attribution of a medal to a young member of the scientific community who has distinguished himself by a pioneering and important contribution. Till now there have been 42 laureates of the medal (as of 2010).

The Academy is governed by an elected bureau (three year period). The list of past and present officers are as follows: