Ad van der Avoird
Ad van der Avoird is a Dutch theoretical chemist. He is an emeritus professor of theoretical chemistry at the Radboud University Nijmegen.Career
Van der Avoird was born on 19 April 1943 in Eindhoven. He was professor of theoretical chemistry at the Radboud University Nijmegen and took up emeritus status in 2008 although he kept working. In 2013 Van der Avoird provided a theory on the relation between two benzene rings and their possible motion, the discovery was published with Gerard Meijer and a German research team in a paper in Angewandte Chemie. The model solved a decade old scientific issue.
On 25 April 2014 he was made a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion, one of only fifteen appointees that year. Amongst other accomplishments he was given the honor for his model of benzene dimer.
Van der Avoird became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1979. He is also member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.
