chemistry

Weitao Yang

Weitao Yang is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Weitao Yang rather than just read about it. In short: Weitao Yang (Chinese: 杨伟涛; pinyin: Yáng Wěitāo; born March 31, 1961) is a Chinese-born American chemist who is the Philip Handler Professor of Chemistry at Duke University. His main contributions to chemistry include density functional theory development, and its applications to chemistry.

Key takeaways

Weitao Yang belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Weitao Yang to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Weitao Yang from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Weitao Yang (Chinese: 杨伟涛; pinyin: Yáng Wěitāo; born March 31, 1961) is a Chinese-born American chemist who is the Philip Handler Professor of Chemistry at Duke University. His main contributions to chemistry include density functional theory development, and its applications to chemistry.

Biography Yang was born in Chaozhou, Guangdong, China, on March 31, 1961. He entered Peking University in 1978 as part of the first generation of college students after the Cultural Revolution. He received his BS in chemistry in 1982, after which he studied theoretical chemistry as a PhD student with Robert G. Parr at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He completed his PhD degree in 1986 and worked as a postdoc with Parr (1986–1987) and William H. Miller (1988–1989). Yang currently works in the department of chemistry at Duke University since 1990, as assistant professor, associate professor, professor, and Philip Handler Professor of Chemistry.

Contributions Yang's main contributions to theoretical chemistry range from fundamental theory to applications of density functional theory. He (with Parr) developed the concepts of the Fukui function, hardness, and softness in density functional theory. He also justified the theoretical ground of potential functional (as in Optimized-Effective-Potential methods) and fractional-number-of-electron approaches. The Lee–Yang–Parr (shortened to LYP) correlation functional by Yang and his coworkers is extensively used in chemistry and was the second most cited article in chemistry from 1999 to 2006. Yang developed the Divide and Conquer algorithm for linear-scaling density functional theory. In application, Yang also developed methods in QM/MM simulation for large chemistry and biology systems. His book with Robert G. Parr, Density-Functional Theory of Atoms and Molecules, is considered to be the basic textbook in the field of density functional theory.

Awards and honors 1997 Annual Medal of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science 1999–2006 The Lee–Yang–Parr correlation energy functional, also known as the LYP functional (Phys. Rev. B 37, 785, 1988) has been the second most cited paper in chemistry for all seven years from 1999 to 2006 since CAS started publishing citation data online. Number of citations is over 25,000. 2003 Elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. 2006 Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists 2010 International Solvay Chair in Chemistry, International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry, Brussels, Belgium 2012 American Chemical Society National Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research

Family life He is married to Helen Wen Yang and they have two children.

See also Density functional theory Robert G. Parr

References

External links Homepage of Weitao Yang Archived 2012-04-18 at the Wayback Machine

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Weitao Yang

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Weitao Yang claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Weitao Yang before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Weitao Yang ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Weitao Yang

In research: Weitao Yang appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Weitao Yang in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Weitao Yang is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1961 births, 21st-century American chemists, Chemists from Guangdong, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Weitao Yang outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Weitao Yang in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Weitao Yang means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Weitao Yang out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Weitao Yang in simple terms?

Why does Weitao Yang matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Weitao Yang?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Weitao Yang.