Henry A. Bent Explained

Henry A. Bent
Birth Date:	21 December 1926
Birth Place:	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Death Place:	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Alma Mater:	University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D. 1952)
Work Institutions:	University of ConnecticutUniversity of Minnesota (1958-69)North Carolina State University, Raleigh (1969-89)University of Pittsburgh (1989-92)
Prizes:	George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education (1980)

Henry A. Bent (December 21, 1926 – January 3, 2015)^[1] was a professor of physical chemistry who studied molecular orbitals to develop atomic hybridization and valence bond theories.^[2] Bent's rule, which predicts the orbital hybridization of a central atom as a function of the electronegativities of the substituents attached to it, is named for him.

In thermodynamics he developed a global approach now known as "entropy analysis" for the entropy component of thermodynamic free energy in relation to the second law of thermodynamics and the spontaneity of various chemical processes.^[3]

Bent was also interested in the periodic laws of the elements and promoted the left-step periodic table based on orbital-filling rules.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: In memoriam: Professor Henry Albert Bent . College of Science and Engineering . University of Minnesota . 30 March 2020 . 6 January 2015.
2. Ainsworth . Susan J. . Henry A. Bent . Chemical and Engineering News . 23 March 2015 . 93 . 12 . 44 . 29 March 2020.
3. Teaching Entropy Analysis in the First-Year High School Course and Beyond . Thomas H. . Bindel . J. Chem. Educ. . 2004 . 81 . 11 . 1585–1594 . 10.1021/ed081p1585 .
4. New Ideas in Chemistry from Fresh Energy for the Periodic Law (Henry A. Bent) . A. Truman . Schwartz . J. Chem. Educ. . 2007 . 84 . 9 . 1431–1432 . 10.1021/ed084p1431 . free .