Katheryn Rajnak

Katheryn Rajnak
Born	Katheryn Marie Edmonds April 30, 1937 Kalamazoo, MI
💀Died	February 3, 2005 Kalamazoo, MIFebruary 3, 2005
🏳️ Nationality	United States
🎓 Alma mater	Kalamazoo College University of California Berkeley
💼 Occupation
Known for	Hartree-Fock calculations of the energy levels of lanthanide elements.
🏅 Awards	Phi Beta Kappa (1959) Clark Benedict Williams Prize in Mathematics (1959) National Science Foundation Scholarship (1959) Honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellowship (1959)

Katheryn Marie Edmonds Rajnak was an American theoretical physical chemist who lived and worked in the United States. She was known for her work applying variations of the Hartree-Fock approach to calculating the energy levels of the lanthanide elements and their compounds. Applications of those results include the design of lasers for inertial-confinement fusion and for Uranium isotope separation. She was the first woman to teach physics at Kalamazoo College, starting in 1967 (the second one started 34 years later, in 2001).

Education

Rajnak attended Kalamazoo College, earning her bachelor's degree in 1959, magna cum laude. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963.

Career

She had a post-doc appointment at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, from 1962 to 1965. She was a lecturer in Chemistry at Western Michigan University in 1966 and was Assistant Professor of Physics at Kalamazoo College in 1967–70. Other appointments at WMU and Kalamazoo followed, with her final position being Adjunct Associate Professor of Physics at Kalamazoo, 1985–96. Her teaching at Kalamazoo included introductory astronomy and quantum mechanics for advanced undergraduate physics majors. Her research collaborations included sustained work with the Argonne National Laboratory (actinide chemistry group), from 1966; visiting researcher at Paris-Sud University (Orsay), spring quarters, 1987–91; Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics and Laser Fusion groups), from 1973; and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Materials and Molecular Research Division), 1982–83. The Livermore work involved calculations related to laser isotope separation of Uranium and possible new solid-state lasers. These collaborations are evident in her scientific publications, listed below.

Publications

1. K. Rajnak, “Approximate Excited Eigenfunctions for Pr³⁺ and Tm³⁺”, J. Chem Phys., 37, 2440 (1962).
2. K. Rajnak and B. G. Wybourne, “Configuration Interactions Effects in l^N Configurations”, Phys. Rev. 132, 280 (1963).
3. K. Rajnak and B. G. Wybourne, “Electrostatically Correlated Spin-orbit Interaction in l^N-Type Configurations”, Phys. Rev. 134, LA596 (1964).
4. K. Rajnak and B. G. Wybourne, “Configuration Interaction in Crystal Field Theory”, J. Chem Phys. 41, 565 (1964).
5. K. Rajnak, “Free Ion Energy Levels of Pr III”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 55, 126 (1965).
6. K. Rajnak, “Configuration-Interaction Effects on the ‘Free Ion’ Energy Levels of Nd³⁺ and Er³⁺”, J. Chem. Phys. 43, 847 (1965).
7. K. Rajnak and J. Conway, “Energy Levels of Pu³⁺ in LaCl₃”, J. Chem. Phys. 44, 348 (1966).
8. J. B. Gruber, J. R. Henderson, M. Muramoto, K. Rajnak, and J. G. Conway, “Energy Levels of Single Crystal Erbium Oxide”, J. Chem. Phys. 45, 477 (1966).
9. W. F. Krupke and K. Rajnak, “Energy Levels of Ho³⁺ in LaCl₃”, J. Chem. Phys. 46, 3532 (1967).
10. W. T. Carnall, P. R. Fields, and K. Rajnak, “Spectral Intensities of the Trivalent Lanthanides in Solution. II.  Pm³⁺, Sm³⁺, Eu³⁺, Gd³⁺, Tb³⁺, Dy³⁺, and Ho³⁺”, J. Chem. Phys. 49, 4412 (1968).
11. W. T. Carnall, P. R. Fields, and K. Rajnak, “Electronic Energy Levels in the Trivalent Lanthanide Aquo Ions. I. Pr³⁺, Nd³⁺, Sm³⁺, Dy³⁺ and Ho³⁺, J. Chem Phys 49, 4424 (1968).
12. W. T. Carnall, P. R. Fields, and K. Rajnak, “Electronic Energy Levels in the Trivalent Lanthanide Aquo Ions. II.  Gd³⁺”, J. Chem. Phys. 49, 4443 (1968).
13. W. T. Carnall, P. R. Fields, and K. Rajnak, “Electronic Energy Levels in the Trivalent Lanthanide Aquo Ions. III. Tb³⁺”, J. Chem. Phys. 49, 4447 (1968).
14. W. T. Carnall, P. R. Fields, and K. Rajnak, “Electronic Energy Levels in the Trivalent Lanthanide Aquo Ions. IV. Eu³⁺”, J. Chem. Phys. 49, 4450 (1968).
15. J. Morrison, K. Rajnak, and M. Wilson, “Evaluation of Effective Operators for Configuration Interaction”, Journal de Physique Colloque C4, 31, supplement, 167 (1970).
16. J. Morrison and K. Rajnak, “Many-Body Calculations for Heavy Atoms”, Phys. Rev. A4, 536 (1971).
17. K. Rajnak, R. Melhorn, and N. Edelstein, “Calculation of the Crystal Field Splittings of Sm³⁺ Levels in LaCl₃ with Inclusion of J Mixing”, J. Chem. Phys. 58, 609 (1973).
18. W. T. Carnall and K. Rajnak, “Electronic Energy Level and Intensity Correlations in the Spectra of the Trivalent Actinide Aquo Ions.  II. Cm³⁺” J. Chem. Phys. 63, 3510 (1975).
19. K. Rajnak, “Hartree-Fock Calculations for Many Configurations of U I”, Phys. Rev. A14, 1979 (1976).
20. H. M. Crosswhite, Hannah Crosswhite, N. Edelstein, and K. Rajnak, “Parametric Energy Level Analysis of Ho³⁺:LaCl₃”, J. Chem. Phys. 67, 3002 (1977).
21. K. Rajnak and M. Fred, “Correlation of Isotope Shifts with |Y(0)|² for Actinide Configurations”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67, 1314 (1977).
22. K. Rajnak and B. W. Shore, “Regularities in s-electron binding energies in I^Ns^M Configurations”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 68, 360 (1978).
23. K. Rajnak and L. Couture, “Parametric Analysis of the energy levels of Nd³⁺ in frozen dilute aqueous solutions of neodymium chloride”, Chemical Physics 55, 331-37 (1981).
24. W. T. Carnall, J. V. Beitz, H. Crosswhite, K. Rajnak, and J. B. Mann, “Systemmatic properties of the f-elements in compounds and solutions,” chapter in Shayama P. Sinha (ed.), Systemmatics and the Properties of the Lanthanides, NATO Advanced Science Institutes Series, R. Reidel Publishing Co, Boston, 1983, pp. 389–450.
25. Pierre Delamoye, K. Rajnak, M. Genet, and N. Edelstein, “Parametric analysis of the energy levels of U⁴⁺ in D_2d and limiting D₂ sites in incommensurate ThBr₄”, Phys. Rev. B 28, 4923-4930 (1983).
26. L. Couture and K. Rajnak, “Parametric analysis of the energy levels of Er³⁺ ions in hydrated erbium chloride, ErCl₃ ^. 6H₂O, and in frozen dilute aqueous solutions of erbium chloride,” Chemical Physics 85, 315-32 (1984).
27. K. Rajnak, E. Gamp, R. Banks, R. Shinomoto, and N. Edelstein, “Optical and Magnetic Properties of Uranium and Neptunium Borohydrides and Tetrakismethylborohydrides”, presented at the First International Conference on the Chemistry and Technology of the Lanthanides and Actinides, Venice, Italy, Sept. 5-10, 1983.  Inorganica Chimica Acta 95, 29-35 (1984).
28. K. Rajnak, E. Gamp, R. Shinomoto, and N. Edelstein, “Optical and Magnetic Properties of Uranium borohydride and tetrakismethyl-borohydride”. J. Chem. Phys. 80, 5942 (1984).
29. K. Rajnak, R. H. Banks, E. Gamp, and N. Edelstein, “Analysis of the optical spectrum of Np(BD₄) ₄ diluted in Zr(BD₄) ₄; and the magnetic properties of Np(BH₄) ₄ and Np(BH₃CH₃)₄”, J. Chem. Phys. 80, 5951 (1984).
30. C. H. H. Van Deurzen, K. Rajnak, and John G. Conway, “Uranium five, (U V), the ¹S₀ level and a parametric analysis of the 5f³ configuration”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 1, 45 (1984).
31. W. T. Carnall, H. Crosswhite, and K. Rajnak, “A Systematic View of Transition Intensities in the Spectra of Actinides and Lanthanides in Condensed Phases”, Plenary Lecture at the International Symposium on Rare Earth Spectroscopy, Wroclaw, Poland, Sept. 10–15, 1984. Published in symposium proceedings.
32. N. Edelstein, J. C. Krupa, R. C. Naik, K. Rajnak, B. Whittaker, and D. Brown, “Analysis of the 5f¹ ® 6d¹ transitions in PaX₄^2- (X=Cl, Br) and Pa⁴⁺/ThBr₄”, Inorg. Chem, 27, 3186 (1988).
33. W. T. Carnall, G. L. Goodman, K. Rajnak, and R. S. Rana, “A systematic analysis of the spectra of the lanthanides doped into single crystal LaF₃ ”, J. Chem. Phys. 90, 3443–3457, (1989); longer Argonne Report Version, ANL, 8-88.

Publications cited as "J. Chem. Phys." are from the American Physical Society's, "Journal of Chemical Physics."

Publications cited as "Chemical Physics" are from Elsevier's, "Journal of Chemical Physics."

References

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