Norman Allinger

{{Short description|American chemist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Norman Louis Allinger

| image =

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1928|4|6}}

| birth_name = Norman Louis Allinger{{cite news|title=First Birthday of Son Feted by Mrs Allinger|newspaper=Alameda Times Star|page=4|date=1 April 1930}}

| birth_place = Alameda, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2020|7|8|1928|4|6}}

| death_place = Athens, Georgia, U.S.

| education = University of California (BS)
University of California, Los Angeles (PhD)

| known_for = MM2, MM3 and MM4

| awards = See list

| fields = Computational chemistry
Molecular mechanics

| workplaces = University of Georgia

| doctoral_advisor = Donald J. Cram

|thesis_url=https://catalog.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=491384

|thesis_title=The paracyclophanes.

|thesis_year=1954

| spouses = {{plainlist|

• Janet Waldron
• Irene Saez

}}

| children = Ilene Suzanne
James Augustus
Alan Louis

}}

Norman "Lou" Allinger (6 April 1928 – 8 July 2020){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=paFmAAAAMAAJ&q=Norman+Allinger+April+6,+1928|title=Who's who in the South and Southwest|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|access-date=January 10, 2020|isbn=9780837908359|year=2005}} was an American organic and computational chemist and Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens.

Lou Allinger was the elder of two children of Norman Clark Allinger (a bank employee) and Florence Helen (née Young). He was born in Alameda, California. His mother died, aged 75, on 3 January 1982.{{cite news|title=Funerals: Allinger, Florence Helen|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|page=14|date=5 January 1982}} His father died on 3 July 1983, aged 82.California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997

“From the age of nine on he was always employed in some fashion, first at the age of nine selling magazines and newspapers, then later as an ice-man, a part-time mail carrier, an apricot-picker, a butcher’s apprentice, and a warehouseman, loading tin cans onto railway cars”.{{cite web | title = Dr. N.L. Allinger Obituary | website = Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes | date = July 2020 | url = https://www.lordandstephens.com/obituary/Norman-Allinger | access-date = 4 April 2023}}

Allinger always had an interest in science, starting with astronomy at age 9 and pursuing that hobby with friends for many years, including his college years when he assembled a 6-inch Newtonian reflector using lenses he had ground himself. He began chemistry as a hobby around 10 or 11 and won a Boy Scout merit badge in the subject at age 13.{{cite journal| last1 = Lipkowitz | first1 = K. B. | title = Biography | journal = Journal of Molecular Structure | volume = 556 | issue = | pages = xi-xiv | publisher = Elsevier | date = 2000| doi = 10.1016/S0022-2860(00)00639-6 }} Aged 17, Allinger was experimenting with a highly dangerous mixture of magnesium and red phosphorus with three teenage friends in his bedroom at home. It resulted in an explosion which severely injured one friend. Lou escaped with "multiple cuts about the face and upper body".{{cite news|title=4 Boys Hurt as 'Bomb' Explodes|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|page=4|date=27 May 1945}}{{cite news|title=Local Youth Loses Hand|newspaper=Alameda Times Star|page=1|date=28 May 1945}}

Allinger attended Alameda High School and then, aged 18, he enlisted in the US Army,U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 and was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska. After his term of enlistment Allinger attended the University of California, Berkeley, from where he graduated with a BS in chemistry in 1951.

For his PhD he moved to University of California, Los Angeles, to work with Donald J. Cram. He was awarded the degree in 1954. Allinger then crossed the country to Harvard, where he worked with Paul Bartlett.

In 1956 Allinger joined the faculty of Wayne State University, becoming a full professor of chemistry in 1960. After thirteen years in Detroit he moved to the University of Georgia as Research Professor. Allinger became the founding editor of the Journal of Computational Chemistry, the first issue of which appeared in 1980.{{cite journal | title = Masthead | journal = Journal of Computational Chemistry | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | date = March 1980 | pages = fmi | doi = 10.1002/jcc.540010101 | s2cid = 221831747 | doi-access = free }}{{cite journal|last1=Schaefer III|first1=Henry F|last2=Jorgensen|first2=William L|title=A Reflection on Norman Louis Allinger|journal=Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation|volume=17|issue=4|page=2013|date=2021|doi=10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00252|pmid=33729801 }}

“Professor Allinger is honored for his pioneering work in computational chemistry, his seminal contributions to the development of the molecular mechanics series of force fields, their widespread application to the fundamental understanding of molecular structure and energetics, and their implementation as a significant tool for practicing chemists”. He was the senior author of the MM2, MM3, and MM4 molecular mechanics software packages.{{cite journal | last1 = Allinger | first1 = Norman L. | last2 = Lii| first2 = Jenn-Huei | last3 = Yuh | first3 = Young H.

| title = Molecular mechanics. The MM3 force field for hydrocarbons. 1 | journal = J. Am. Chem. Soc. | volume = 111 | issue = 23 | pages = 8551–8566 | date = 1989 | doi = 10.1021/ja00205a001 | bibcode = 1989JAChS.111.8551A | url = https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja00205a001 | url-access = subscription }}

Allinger published more than 360 papers in his career.{{cite journal | last1 = Bowen| first1 = J. Philip | title = A Portrait of the Chemist: The Lou Allinger Story | journal = Journal of Computational Chemistry | volume = 19 | issue = 2 | pages = vi-ix | publisher = John Wiley & Sons, Inc.| date = 1998 | doi = 10.1002/(SICI)1096-987X(19980130)19:23.0.CO;2-G | s2cid = 97243792 | url = https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/%28SICI%291096-987X%2819980130%2919%3A2%3CVII%3A%3AAID-JCC2%3E3.0.CO%3B2-G | url-access = subscription }}