QUANTUM-CHEMISTRY AND ITS UNACHIEVED MISSIONS

This text is more a free opinion than a traditional scientific paper. It shows some intrinsic contradictions faced by quantum chemistry, sch ematizes some distinct periods of the discipline. It claims that some tasks, especially the construction of models for a qualitative intelli gibility of the molecular world, have been neglected to the benefit of numerism. It underlines some intellectual challenges, which concern t he interfaces with both chemistry and solid stare physics, which may i mprove the image of our discipline. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.