CUTV News Radio spotlights chemist and educator Dr. William A. Lester Jr.

Oakland, CA – Dr. William A. Lester Jr. is a chemist and educator who has dedicated his life to the study of theoretical chemistry. Having served in roles with the National Bureau of Standards in Washington DC, as well as IBM’s San Jose Research Laboratory, Dr. Lester concluded his career as a professor in the Department of Chemistry at UC-Berkeley.

As a high school senior, Dr. Lester took a part-time job typing for a professor of molecular physics at the University of Chicago for $1.09 an hour in 1953.

Dr. Lester would later win a scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he pursued his B.S. and M.S., subsequently earning his PhD from The Catholic University of America in 1964.

As a chemist, Dr. Lester's research efforts focused primarily on theoretical studies of the electronic structure and nuclear motion of molecules, extending to a range of chemical problems that form the domain of quantum chemistry and beyond.

“There were major questions regarding molecules that we wanted to answer and resolve,” says Dr. Lester.

Depending upon the conditions, an electron can behave both as a particle and as a wave. The major equation in quantum mechanics for molecules is the Schrödinger Equation, which provides information on the reactivity of a molecule and its equilibrium structure.

“That was what I was engaged in for my career, and I was quite successful at the latter because my calculations were sufficiently accurate as to define a standard against which to test new methods for computing such values,” explains Dr. Lester.