Robert Sanderson Mulliken was an American physicist and chemist who received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1966 for his work on the structure of molecules. Starting to work on the theory of molecular structures from 1920, Mulliken devoted his entire life to electron and quantum theory and was primarily responsible for the development of ‘Molecular Orbital Theory’, a method of computing the structure of molecules. He was affectionately called as ‘Mr. Molecule’. Mulliken along with Linus Pauling is credited to be the founder of Theoretical Quantum Chemistry. He was instrumental in developing the basic concepts of molecular structure and thereby bringing forth its terminology and spectra. His area of work covered two major scientific disciplines and that was the reason he alternated between physics and chemistry. Thus he has carved the niche for also bringing in the contributions of mathematics and computers into his study. His field of expertise was so complex that when Mulliken received the Nobel Prize, he did not even attempt to explain his work in layman terms to the audience. He has also contributed to develop the atomic bomb during the World War II.
