Peter Schwerdtfeger

Peter A. Schwerdtfeger
Schwerdtfeger in 2014
Born	(1955-09-01) 1 September 1955 (age 70) Stuttgart, West Germany
Alma mater	University of Stuttgart Philipps University of Marburg
Known for	Relativistic electronic structure theory Topology of fullerenes Physics beyond the Standard Model Heavy element chemistry
Awards	Humboldt Research Award Rutherford Medal Fukui Medal Hector Medal
Scientific career
Fields	Chemistry physics mathematics
Institutions	Massey University Auckland
Doctoral advisor	Heinzwerner Preuß

Peter A. Schwerdtfeger (born 1 September 1955) is a German theoretical chemist based in New Zealand. He holds a chair in theoretical chemistry at Massey University (Albany, Auckland), is Director of Massey's Centre for Theoretical Chemistry and Physics, and Head of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study (NZIAS). ^{[1] [2] [3]} He was elected to the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science in 2012 ^[4] and received New Zealand's Rutherford Medal in 2014. ^{[5] [6]}

Early life and education

Schwerdtfeger gained a qualification as a chemical-technical assistant at the Chemisches Institut Dr. Flad, Stuttgart, in 1973, and a chemical engineering degree from Aalen University of Applied Sciences in 1976. He studied chemistry, physics and mathematics at the University of Stuttgart, completing the Dr. rer. nat. (PhD) in theoretical chemistry in 1986. He received the Habilitation and venia legendi from the Philipps University of Marburg in 1995. ^[2]

Career

In 1987 he moved to New Zealand on a Feodor-Lynen fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to the University of Auckland ^[7] ; he held a research fellowship at the Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University (1989–1991), then returned to Auckland as lecturer (1991) and later personal chair (1999). In 2004 he was appointed to the chair in theoretical chemistry at Massey University (Albany) and founded the Centre for Theoretical Chemistry and Physics. ^{[8] [2]}

He has served as Head of the NZIAS and is listed as Head of Institute on the NZIAS site. ^[3] He was the Gunnar Källén Lecturer in Physics at Lund University in 2015 and previously undertook a Royal Society of Chemistry Australasian Lectureship tour in 2007. ^{[9] [10]}

From 2017 to 2018 he was associated with the Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) in Oslo through the project "Molecules in Extreme Environments," hosted by Trygve Helgaker. ^[11]

Schwerdtfeger has authored hundreds of research papers in electronic-structure theory and heavy-element chemistry; his CV lists more than 380 publications. ^[2]

Fellowships and awards

Schwerdtfeger was awareded multiple national and international awards:

• 2001 James Cook Fellowship ^[12]
• 2010 Humboldt Research Prize by the Humboldt Foundation ^[13]
• 2011 Fukui Medal ^[14]
• 2012 Fellow of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science. ^[14]
• 2014 Royal Society of New Zealand's Rutherford Medal. ^{[15] [16]}
• 2019 Dan Walls Medal ^[17]
• 2022 Foreign member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters ^[18]

Selected publications

• Schwerdtfeger, P.; Heath, G.A.; Dolg, M.; Bennett, M.A. (1992). "Low Valencies and Periodic Trends in Heavy Element Chemistry. A Theoretical Study of Relativistic and Correlation Effects in Group 13 and Period 6 Hydrides and Fluorides". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 114: 7518. doi:10.1021/ja00045a027.
• Schwerdtfeger, P. (2003). "Gold Goes Nano – From Small Clusters to Low-Dimensional Assemblies". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 42 (17): 1892–5. doi:10.1002/anie.200201610. PMID   12730967.
• Hermann, A.; Schmidt, W.G.; Schwerdtfeger, P. (2008). "Resolving the optical spectrum of water: Coordination and electrostatic effects". Physical Review Letters. 100 (20) 207403. Bibcode:2008PhRvL.100t7403H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.207403. PMID   18518578.
• Schwerdtfeger, P. (2011). "The Pseudopotential Approximation in Electronic Structure Theory". ChemPhysChem. 2 (17): 3143–55. doi:10.1002/cphc.201100387. PMID   21809427.
• Hauser, A.; Schwerdtfeger, P. (2012). "Nanoporous graphene membranes for efficient 3He/4He separation". Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 3 (2): 209. doi:10.1021/jz201504k.
• Calvo, F.; Pahl, E.; Wormit, M.; Schwerdtfeger, P. (2013). "Evidence for low temperature melting of mercury owing to relativity". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 52 (29): 7583–5. doi:10.1002/anie.201302742. PMID   23780699.
• Schwerdtfeger, P.; Wirz, L.; Avery, J. (2015). "The Topology of Fullerenes". Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Molecular Science. 5 (1): 96–145. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1207 . PMC   4313690 . PMID   25678935.
• Pašteka, L.F.; Eliav, E.; Borschevsky, A.; Kaldor, U.; Schwerdtfeger, P. (2017). "Relativistic coupled cluster calculations with variational quantum electrodynamics resolve the discrepancy between experiment and theory concerning the electron affinity and ionization potential of gold". Physical Review Letters. 118 (2) 023002. Bibcode:2017PhRvL.118b3002P. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.023002. PMID   28128629.
• Jerabek, P.; Schuetrumpf, B.; Schwerdtfeger, P.; Nazarewicz, W. (2018). "Electron and Nucleon Localization Functions in Superheavy Elements". Physical Review Letters. 120 (5) 053001. arXiv: 1707.08710 . doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.053001 . PMID   29481184.
• Giuliani, S. A.; Matheson, Z.; Nazarewicz, W.; Olsen, E.; Reinhard, P.-G.; Sadhukhan, J.; Schuetrumpf, B.; Schunck, N.; Schwerdtfeger, P. (2019). "Oganesson and beyond". Reviews of Modern Physics. 91 011001. doi: 10.1103/RevModPhys.91.011001 .

References

1. "Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger". Massey University. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
2. "Curriculum Vitae – Peter Schwerdtfeger". Centre for Theoretical Chemistry and Physics (Massey University). Retrieved 26 September 2025.
3. "Contact us". New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
4. "International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science". iaqms.org. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
5. "CTCP News & Publicity (25 June 2012): IAQMS election". CTCP (Massey University). Retrieved 26 September 2025.
6. "2014 Rutherford Medal: Understanding the fundamentals". Royal Society Te Apārangi. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
7. "Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung". www.humboldt-foundation.de (in German). 14 October 2025. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
8. Crassous, Jeanne; Chardonnet, Christian; Saue, Trond; Schwerdtfeger, Peter (2005). "Recent experimental and theoretical developments towards the observation of parity violation effects in molecules by spectroscopy". Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry. 3 (12): 2218–2224. Retrieved 26 September 2025. Peter Schwerdtfeger received his PhD from Stuttgart University in 1986… Feodor-Lynen Fellow in 1987 (Auckland)… research fellow at ANU… lectureship in 1991… venia legendi (Marburg) in 1995… personal chair in 1999… chair at Massey in 2004.
9. "CTCP Annual Report 2015" (PDF). CTCP (Massey University). p. 5. Retrieved 26 September 2025. P. Schwerdtfeger was the Gunnar Källén Lecturer of 2015 at the University of Lund, Department of Physics.
10. "CTCP Annual Performance Report 2007" (PDF). CTCP (Massey University). p. 3. Retrieved 26 September 2025. P. Schwerdtfeger was awarded the 2007 Australasian Lectureship.
11. "CTCP Annual Report 2017" (PDF). CTCP (Massey University). p. 3. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
12. Royal Society of New Zealand James Cook Fellowship: List of Recipients
13. "Scientist wins prestigious Humboldt Prize | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
14. International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science
15. "Royal Society of New Zealand recognises achievements of researchers". Royal Society of New Zealand. 26 November 2014. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
16. "Explosive start for NZ's highest science honour recipient". The New Zealand Herald. 28 November 2014.
17. "NZIP Award Recipients – New Zealand Institute of Physics" . Retrieved 16 March 2023.
18. Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. "Annual report of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters" (PDF).

External links

• Official web site