Brief History of Electronic Structure Calculations in Computational Chemistry

The past influence the present and future; for example, in computational chemistry, simplifying assumptions approximations critical to problem-solving pre-computing era remains relevant today allowing simulation of larger systems using reasonable amount time. By highlighting significant milestones efforts - from both theoretical perspectives aimed at understanding nature chemical bond formation, this short essay traces development evolution electronic structure calculation methods over years. Specifically, Schrodinger equation occupies central place where its intractability easy solution spawned an entire field seeking develop increasingly refined accurate obtaining approximate solutions. Such a chronological thread also form basis asking counterfactual (“what if”) questions examining, historical vantage point, relative role power intuition chemistry.