The origin of computational statistical mechanics in France

¹ Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, Bâtiment 210, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France
² Laboratoire Phénix, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris, France
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK

^a e-mail: dominique.levesque@u-psud.fr

Received: 2 July 2018
Received in final form: 24 August 2018
Published online: 17 October 2018

Abstract

The two main methodologies of computational Statistical Mechanics, namely the stochastic Monte Carlo and the deterministic Molecular Dynamic methods, were developed in the USA in the mid 1950’s. In the present paper we show how these “computer experiments” migrated to Europe in the 60s, and first bloomed at the Orsay Science Faculty, before spreading throughout Europe. Collaborations between the Orsay group, led by Loup Verlet, and pioneering groups in the USA and Europe are pointed out. Finally it is shown how the celebrated Verlet algorithm for the integration of classical equations of motion can be traced back to Isaac Newton.