This work is dedicated to the memory of János Ángyán, distinguished theoretical chemist, external member of the Hungarian Academy of Science (2016), dedicated family man with 9 children and many grandchildren, patient collaborator and dear friend.
János was born in Pecs, Hungary, but spent most of his early life in Budapest where he studied chemistry and obtained doctoral degrees. After postdoctoral stays in Toronto and Paris he took up a Humboldt fellowship in Stuttgart and Bonn, Germany. Immediately thereafter János took a position with the French CNRS and was based from 1991 at Nancy University (now University of Lorraine). He obtained his Habilitation in 1996 and later became Director of Research. During all this time he collaborated intensely with the Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory of the University of Paris (Pierre et Marie Curie, Sorbonne) and held honorary guest professorships in Vienna and Budapest. In addition to his seminal publications (167) in theoretical chemistry, he organised a number of collaborations and international conferences and was on several journal Editorial Boards. Before the present book was conceived the other authors had extended collaborations with János, either since the days of his Humboldt fellowship (Georg) or through the French-Australian FAST research programme (John and Tim). We have excellent memories from our numerous mutual encounters in Europe and Australia, including hikes and cultural tours. Another pleasant memory of our collaboration comes from visits to his family home, where we enjoyed the meals that his wife Mercedes prepared: these were always delicious, even though she could only use simple ingredients in order not to inflame János’s health condition, which was already somewhat delicate.
The last time that the combined authors saw János was at a CECAM conference that he successfully organised, despite fragile health, at Nancy in June, 2016. At the start of 2017, during the early stages of writing this book, János had a major surgical procedure that we all hoped would give him better long-term health. Instead he was taken from us unexpectedly on January 22, 2017, at age 60.
We miss him sorely.
