Awards and distinctions never affected lifelong academic John A. Pople. Whether it was the Nobel Prize in chemistry, election to the National Academy of Sciences or a knighthood, he remained a British gentleman with a quiet demeanor and fatherly air.
“Honors bestowed upon him didn’t change his personality,” said George Schatz, a colleague and professor of chemistry at Northwestern University. “He was the same person all the way through the end.”
Mr. Pople, 78, died of cancer Monday, March 15, in his Chicago home.
Born and raised in England, he liked to recall how he biked 2 miles, rode another 25 on a train and then walked a mile to get to school every day.
At the age of 12 he became fascinated with mathematics and read cover-to-cover a calculus book he pulled out of a wastebasket, he wrote in his autobiographical summary for the Nobel Prize.
While most men his age fought in World War II, Mr. Pople and other science and math students entered the University of Cambridge in 1943 with the possibility their studies would translate into wartime research projects.
A few years later, Mr. Pople attempted to learn how to play the piano and hired Joy Bowers as his private teacher. They married in 1952.
“I don’t think he was one of her best students,” said their daughter Hilary.
Mr. Pople worked as a research student, fellow and then a lecturer at Cambridge and earned his doctorate in mathematics before leaving to head up the basic physics division of England’s National Physical Laboratory in 1958.
After spending a yearlong sabbatical at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Mr. Pople joined the faculty of what later became Carnegie Mellon University to dedicate himself to theoretical chemical research in 1964.
He studied quantum mechanics at Carnegie and developed techniques that could accurately predict how molecules would react and connect to one another.
Those findings, which Mr. Pople incorporated into computer programs, continue to be used in chemical research ranging from pharmaceuticals to plastics, said Michael Wasielewski, chair of Northwestern’s chemistry department.
“The computer approach allows one to model these processes without actually having to invest the time and effort to do them in the laboratory,” he said. “Clearly there are things you can try on a computer that would be more cost-effective.”
For that work, he received various awards, including the Nobel Prize in 1998, which he shared with Walter Kohn, a professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara.
The Queen of England knighted Mr. Pople last year.
Mr. Pople began living part time in the Chicago area in 1981 to be near his daughter.
He became an adjunct professor at Northwestern and then a full member of the faculty in 1993.
At home, he often scribbled intricate equations on pads of paper around the house, went on long walks and listened to classical music, his daughter said.
While he generally didn’t discuss his complicated work with his family, he could talk about everything from history to Ingrid Bergman movies, his daughter said.
He also is survived by three sons, Adrian, Mark and Andrew; a brother, Don; 11 grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
His wife died of cancer in 2002.
A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. March 29 at the First United Methodist Church, 1630 Hinman Ave., Evanston.
