After being contacted by Professor Svend Erik Rasmussen, Jan Linderberg came to Aarhus in 1966, first as a visiting professor and soon afterwards as the first professor of quantum chemistry at Aarhus University. He came from Per-Olov Löwdin’s international research environment at Uppsala University and continued and expanded his mentor’s strong emphasis on the international character of research. His research group on the fifth floor of the converted assembly hall became a melting pot of visitors and researchers from around the world. For those of us fortunate enough to be among his first students, it became a scientific paradise and an extraordinary learning environment. Through their great hospitality, Gunnel and Jan also created a sense of community beyond academic life. They opened their home to us all, fostering friendships among students, visitors, and colleagues that lasted until the very end, maintained through regular reunions marking the day we first moved into the fifth floor, gathering in Aarhus from near and far.

Above all, Jan Linderberg was a world-leading researcher. He was among the first in the world to introduce propagators into quantum chemistry — a method for calculating a wide range of molecular properties without knowledge of molecular eigenfunctions and eigenstates. Together with his close friend and colleague, Professor Yngve Öhrn, he published the 1973 book Propagators in Quantum Chemistry, the first complete description of the method and its many applications. Since then, propagator methods and related approaches have gained worldwide recognition and today form part of the standard toolbox for electronic structure calculations. But it all began in Aarhus, thanks to Jan Linderberg’s profound insight into the application of mathematical and physical methods to molecules.

Jan was often far ahead of the rest of us in both insight and thinking. He was an incredible source of inspiration and will forever remain a guiding star for all of us who had the privilege of learning from him. It was difficult to live up to the high standards he set for himself and for all of us — all while being a warm, kind, and deeply generous person. He embodied the ideal supervisor.

Jan Linderberg placed the Department of Chemistry and Aarhus University firmly on the international research map, and he did so in a way that ensured that even now, after he has let go, a strong quantum chemistry research environment remains at the department to carry his life’s work forward.

Honoured be his memory

Poul Jørgensen, Jens Oddershede and Karl Anker Jørgensen

Jan Linderberg’s funeral service will take place at Vor Frue Kirke in Aarhus on Friday, May 29, at 11:00.