# Frank Neese (Max Planck) delivers George B. Kistiakowsky Lecture Prize Lecture March 09, 2026 - [ News ](/news-categories/news) On Thursday, March 5, Frank Neese, the Director of Molecular Theory and Spectroscopy at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, delivered his George B. Kistiakowsky Lecture Prize Lecture, "How (and why) to Combine High-Level Spectroscopy with Quantum Chemistry to Study Reaction Mechanisms." Neese is the author of about 750 scientific articles in journals of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physics. His work focuses on the theory of magnetic spectroscopies (electron paramagnetic resonance, magnetic circular dichroism) and their experimental and theoretical application, local pair natural orbital correlation theories, multi-reference methods, electronic and geometric structure and reactivity of transition metal complexes and metalloenzymes. Neese is also the architect and lead author of the ORCA program, (presently the second most widely used quantum chemistry package worldwide with more than 100000 academic users) as well as co-founder of the company FAccTs (2017) that distributes ORCA commercially to industry. George Kistiakowsky was born November 18, 1900, in Kiev, Ukraine to an academic family. He left Russia in 1921 after an exciting military period with the White Russian forces. His studies of chemistry in Berlin culminated with the Ph.D. degree under the direction of Professor Max Bodenstein. He came to Princeton in 1926 where his distinction as a physical chemist was founded. He moved to Harvard in 1930. A broad range of fundamental problems in thermochemistry and especially in the kinetics of chemical reactions were treated by him in a masterful manner. In the war years, 1940-46, his expertise in the fundamentals of explosives led to making him director of the explosives division of the National Defense Research Committee. He became chief of the explosives division of the Los Alamos Laboratory in 1944. After returning to Harvard and serving as department chairman from 1947-50, he continued active involvement with government affairs. He took a leave of absence from 1959-61 to serve as Special Assistant for Science and Technology for President Eisenhower. These years are recorded in his book entitled A Scientist in the White House. He was Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences from 1965- 73. From the late sixties until his death in 1982, he worked intensively for nuclear disarmament, serving as chairman of the Council for a Livable World from 1977-82. His numerous medals and awards reflect his distinction in science and public affairs. The synopsis of Neese's lecture is below: "As the use of quantum chemical calculations alongside experimental investigations becomes more and more widespread in chemistry, it is also timely to take a step back and ask the question of “how” exactly, can and should best use calculations in order to be maximally beneficial to chemical research. I will first illustrate my philosophy of approaching the study of chemical mechanisms and the role that spectroscopy and theory can play in it, before turning to recent examples in both, chemistry and biochemistry, that serve to illustrate the abstract concepts." Pictures: ![Joonho Lee](/sites/g/files/omnuum7776/files/2026-03/Joonho-Kistia.jpg) ![Joonho Lee](/sites/g/files/omnuum7776/files/2026-03/Joonho-Kistia2.jpg) ![Joonho Lee](/sites/g/files/omnuum7776/files/2026-03/Joonho-Kistia3.jpg) ![Joonho Lee](/sites/g/files/omnuum7776/files/2026-03/Joonho-Kistia4.jpg) See also:- [ Lee ](/news-and-events-faculty/lee) - [ Prizes & Awards ](/news-type/prizes-awards) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)