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Most cited
Years after chemistry's Mark Gordon's work was first published, it continues to be cited by fellow researchers in scientific journals.
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Every week another scientific journal is published. And more often than not, Mark Gordon's work is cited in one of the articles.
Gordon's work is so frequently mentioned that he has been named one of the world's most 250 cited authors in chemistry. The designation is based on data spanning the period 1981-99. The elite group of 250 comprises less than one half of one percent of all publishing researchers.
The list was compiled by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), publishers of several titles including Current Contents.
Gordon, Distinguished Professor of chemistry, is among prestigious company on the latest ISI list. He said that at least six others mentioned are Nobel Prize winners.
"There are some pretty powerful names (in chemistry) on the list," he said.
Gordon theorizes that his inclusion on the list is due to two major areas his research group has worked on at both North Dakota State University and at Iowa State since 1992.
"The vast majority of the people on the list have developed a model or method that other researchers think is wonderful to use," Gordon said. "We've developed a couple of models and those are frequently cited in papers.
"That's probably why we're included."
Gordon's model is the General Atomic and Molecular Electronic Structure System or GAMESS, a general ab initio quantum chemistry package of popular electronic structure suite of programs. It includes several graphics programs and can compute wavefunctions with energy correction available.
"It's fair to say that this is probably the second most used such model in the world," Gordon said.
He estimates that there are currently 3000 users of GAMESS, with at least 1500 citations in various publications of the method.
A series of three papers that Gordon co-wrote in the early '80s on silicon chemistry also contributed to his inclusion on the list.
The research performed by Gordon's quantum chemistry group comprises a broad spectrum of developments and applications in ab initio electronic structure theory. The main theme of this research is the accurate elucidation of complex structures and mechanisms in organic and organometallic chemistry in both the gas phase and in solution.
Gordon describes himself as a theatrical chemist.
"Any problem in chemistry that doesn't have an obvious explanation interests me," he said. "My entire career has focused around interacting with other theoretical and experimental chemists.
"I enjoy the collaboration regardless of the scientific area."
Which shouldn't surprise individuals who have cited Gordon's work in numerous articles.
"Sometimes I'm surprised by the type of articles we're included in," he said. "We're included in some pretty wide-ranging scientific areas which are quite different from chemistry."
Around LAS
December 4-31, 2000
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