About the Author

S.M. Blinder is professor emeritus of chemistry and physics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Born in New York City, he completed his PhD in chemical physics from Harvard in 1958 under the direction of W.E. Moffitt and J.H. Van Vleck (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1977). Professor Blinder has over 200 research publications in several areas of theoretical chemistry and mathematical physics. He was the first to derive the exact Coulomb (hydrogen atom) propagator in Feynman’s path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics. He is the author of four earlier books: Advanced Physical Chemistry (Macmillan, 1969), Foundations of Quantum Dynamics (Academic Press, 1974), Introduction to Quantum Mechanics in Chemistry, Materials Science and Biology (Elsevier, 2004), and Guide to Essential Math (Elsevier, 2008).

Professor Blinder has been associated with the University of Michigan since 1963. He has taught a multitude of courses in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and philosophy, mostly, however, on subjects in theoretical chemistry and mathematical physics. In earlier incarnations he was a Junior Master in chess and an accomplished cellist. He is married to the classical scholar Frances Ellen Bryant with five children. He is now a consultant with Wolfram Research, Inc. (publishers of Mathematica™ and other technical computing products) and still pursues research in mathematical physics.