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Introduction to Quantum Mechanics with Applications to Chemistry (Dover Books on Physics)

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In many ways, this is still my favourite quantum mechanics text. Why? Because the text is completely grounded in the quantum mechanics of atoms and molecules.

Historically, Linus Pauling spent his post-doc working throughout Europe where he absorbed the, then, new theory of quantum mechanics. However, the physicists that he learnt q.m. from only analysed the physics of, relatively simple, atomic systems. It would require someone with an immense breadth of knowledge in chemistry to make quantum mechanics come alive for molecules. This was Linus Pauling. Pauling first applied q.m. to such diverse topics as: the chemical bond, resonance energy, electronegativity, crystal structure of molecules and hydrogen bonds.

And it shows. The uniqueness of this q.m. textbook is that it gives immensely detailed references to the different ways the early physicists/chemists attacked the q.m. of bonds in molecules. Many different ansatz's and approximations to pertubation problems are given. And Pauling should know, for he was right in the thick of it. The historical value of these references alone is worth the price of this book. It's a real shame that most modern books leave these out, because a discussion of these approximations methods give a lot of insight to q.m. in molecules.

In contrast, I find modern textbooks on physical chemistry to be often lacking in deep physical insight. However, textbooks written by physicists run into all sorts of esoteric directions like quantum entanglement and the uncertainty principle and as a previous reviewer noted, Pauling's books says nothing about scattering and hardly anything on spin. This is probably because chemists aren't interested in what happens to particles in beams or Stern-Gerlach experiments. They are more interested in ionisation energy, enthalpies and bond energies.

Nevertheless, for out-and-out modern-day quantum physicists, Pauling's explanation of aspects of quantum mechanics will seem quaint, overly pictorial and concrete, e.g. discussion of *actual* orbits. And it is. However, for chemists and even atomic physicists, pondering such esoteric questions clouds the immense power of quantum mechanics in explaining the detailed properties of atoms and molecules.

Linus Pauling's treatise on quantum chemistry is even more brilliant than that on general chemistry. His vivid and clear explanation makes quantum theory so interesting and appealing to learn. Instead of going through the obscure mathematics and operator mechanics, Pauling conveys the essence of quantum mechanics in very simple language. Maybe this is how Pauling distinguishes himself as a Nobel Prize laureate. I studied Donald McQuarrie "Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach" (you may find my review for McQuarrie here as well) and found McQuarrie so much more understandable than Atkins. Yet Pauling's account on the subject is even more concise and motivating. The book teaches basic concepts but also ensures understanding of applied theory. While "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics" might not be as reader-friendly as its counterpart in general chemistry, I highly recommend this book for all chemistry students and those who want to adventure in advanced chemistry.

In my opinion I found this book very useful if you start studying QM, it describe in very interesting way how the modern QM theory was develop from the old one, it use simple mathematics to describe the physical phenomena compare to the other books in the same subject, and the chemistry application is something definitely you need to understand the applied theory, with this amazing low price and the material inside the book it worth every penny.

Pauling and Wilson's introduction to quantum mechanics is an excellent text for students of quantum chemistry, and students of physics who are interested in the details of molecular wave-functions and perturbation techniques for extracting such wave-functions.

There is also a chapter devoted to "old quantum theory," which students of history of science may find interesting. In it, Pauling describes some incipient theories which predate QM, such as elliptical orbit corrections to the putative hydrogen electron orbit, the Wilson-Sommerfeld quantization rules and its apparently successful application to hydrogenic atomic spectra, particle in a box, and the rigid rotator.

A primer on classical mechanics and the Hamiltonian formulation is included, as is the standard wave mechanics treatment of basic quantum mechanics: Schrodinger's wave eqn, harmonic oscillator, hydrogen atom, etc. This exposition was clear.

Where the book shines is its several chapters on techniques of perturbation theory, and multi-particle theory. Pauling presents virtually step-by-step calculations, showing clearly what sorts of tricks and techniques one uses to calculate certain integrals, and what coordinate systems are appropriate for particular problems (e.g. elliptical coordinates for hydrogen molecule ion.) The Slater determinant is also introduced for the generalization of the multi-particle problem. For the biophysical chemist, there is a short section on van der Waal's forces from a QM perspective. And a chapter is devoted to QM in statistical mechanics. These chapters are indispensable for the aspiring quantum chemistry student, if even just for the sake of owning something from an old master. If you're poor, you should buy this book given that it gives a big bang for the buck. If you're not poor, you should buy this book given that you're not poor.

This book is extremely dense in terms of material. But that's not to say that there are a few shortcomings. The treatment of spin is not so clear- Pauling works completely in terms of wave functions and spin functions, and the reader does not have the benefits of Dirac notation in Pauling's treatment. There is also no discussion of scattering. The theoretically-minded student will also find that Pauling's treatment is lacking in explaining the deeper meanings of fundamental QM ideas, such as the commutation relations, or the time evolution of states. In short, this is not a heavily theoretical text, but rather a book of technical brilliance for applications of quantum mechanics.

Linus Pauling revolutionised the chemical world by his magnum opus 'The Nature of the Chemical Bond' which would come out a few years after this book. This work first came out in the 30s when people were beginning to perceive the potential uses of quantum mechanics in Chemistry, it reveals everything you need to know about the foundations of quantum chemistry and it's indeed a priceless gem for any aspiring chemist. The problem with newer books is that they present the subject in a very dogmatic and, at times, superficial way leaving the student often puzzled and confused with all the mathematical formalities. This book has everything and I mean EVERYTHING ! At the risk of becoming pedantic for those more knowledgeable in calculus and linear algebra, every calculation and every reasoning is justified. The formalities are all unveiled and minimized but it still digs deep into the characterization of the theories of the chemical bond, electronic structure, the infamous group theory and some basic spectroscopy.

How would an "Introduction to Philosophy" by Socrates or a "Basics of the Piano" by Mozart sound like? This is something similar. Linus Pauling, the unprecedented pioneer of the application of Quantum Mechanics to Chemistry, had written this book in the 1930s as perhaps the first introduction to QM for Chemists, supported by his colleague, E Bright Wilson, a brilliant chemist in his own right. A generation of Chemists grew up learning from this book, and its content is as relevant and articulate today as it was then. Hundreds of Quantum Chemistry books, some of which are excellent, have been written in the times since it was first published. But this book still retains an incomparable flavour that brings out the fundamental nature of QM and Chemical Bonding. I have to admit that I found this book slightly difficult, because Pauling and Wilson, although being extremely lucid, never compromise on the Math. But gradually I learnt that this is the kind of book which belongs in the same category of, say, Ernest Eliel's stereochemistry book. That means that every moment you spent on it will be worth it, even if it takes you a very long time to go through it. This is one of those books where every word is carefully thought and then stated, making the journey difficult at places, but always rewarding. And why not. It is hard to imagine anyone else writing with so much confidence on the topic. So it is important not to gloss over this book quickly and then discard it as being dry, but persist in reading it and get insight out of it. The book opens with a discussion of Lagrangian mechanics and discusses some simple examples of its applications. It then moves on to the basic principles of QM, and comes to the Hydrogen molecule, which was the pinnacle of succcess for the Physicists. I think that this book has the best discussion of the H molecule ever written. I have seen other excellent Quantum Chemistry books giving a reference to this work whenever they discuss the H molecule. Moreover, I believe that a thorough understanding of the H molecule is of paramount importance for understanding any further application of QM to Chemistry. Discussion of this molecule opens the door to understanding orbitals, spherical harmonics, angular momentum and all the important concepts in theoretical Chemistry. So the book will score top points for this alone. Later on there are excellent discussions of the Variational Method, Perturbation theory and finally the various important approximations like Hartree-Fock theory and the structure of molecules. The appendices deal with detailed discussions of derivation and some mathematical topics. All in all, a clear and extremely lucid presentation, well worth every moment you can spend on it, by one of the greatest scientists of all time.

If you are an undergraduate and you want everything you need, this is the book. The lack of matrix mechanics makes this book unsuitable for serious graduate students, though. I think it would actually be best for 1st or 2nd year serious undergraduate chemists who are well acquainted with differential equations.

This is a great, simple presentation of the Schroedinger viewpoint. There is no Dirac representation and no matrix mechanics. However, there is much to be liked about this book and it is a pleasure to read. Those who are baffled completely by quantum mechanics will find this an enlightening introduction and a simple understandable place to start. This is another one of those lesser known gems.

After all these years Pauling & Wilson still is one of the fundamental works on making chemistry an "exact" science. This Dover edition made it affordable to any undergrad/grad student, no more excuses for using such junk approaches like the first chapters on the subject like Phys Chem/Atkins

This is an introductory quantum mechanics book that focuses exclusively on how this new (at the time this book was written) mechanics clarifies the nature of chemical bonds. By focusing on this problem this book is able to provide a simplified treatment of quantum mechanics as unbound electron states can be excluded. The treatment is further simplified by ingoring all magnetic effects such as spin-orbit coupling. By doing so, even more simplifcation is permitted in the form of an extremely elementary treatment of spin, basically up or down. As such there are no spinors or Pauli matrices anywhere in this work. Finally, relativistic effects are neglected as well.

The introductory chapters provide a brief review of pertinent ideas in classical mechanics and then present the essential elements of the orginal Sommerfield quantum mechanics. This is useful to students as this theory is often used in examples and is interesting historically. These chapters culminate in a detailed chapter on the electron wave functions for the hydrogen atom which includes a table of these functions as well as graphs so the student can spend some time really getting to know them. That's a good thing as they are heavily relied upon through the rest of the book, and this book is filled with useful and helpful tables and figures such as these.

Next are two chapters on approximation methods. Time independent perturbation theory and the variational method are emphasized, and both are used heavily and extremely illuminatingly in the remainder of the text. The use of these tools was one of my favorite things about this book.

This is an excellent text and I would suggest a student of quantum mechanics read it early, certainly before Dirac. Whether or not it is suitable as a first text on the subject is a different matter. This book provides extremely poor motivation (as in none) for Schordinger's equation, simply introducing it in an entirely postulatory manner. This was a difficult pill for me to swallow pedagocically, but it definitely simplifies the treatment as there is no need to discuss Fourier transforms for instance as is necessary in The Principles of Statistical Mechanics for example.

For the serious student of quantum chemistry, this book may well be considered only a meager and dated introduction, but it is excellent nonetheless. And any early stage student of quantum theory should find this book highly profitable reading.