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History of the HITRAN Database

Nature Reviews Physics volume 3, pages 302–304 (2021)Cite this article

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For almost 50 years the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database has been the standard archive for transmission and radiance calculations. Laurence Rothman reviews its history and some applications.

Molecules possess discrete quantized vibrations and rotations which lead to unique spectra akin to a molecular fingerprint. A database of the transitions of important molecules in the gas phase is analogous to collecting the genomes of multiple biological species. HITRAN (an acronym for high resolution transmission) is a database of experimentally-derived and calculated parameters that characterize molecular transitions. For almost 50 years HITRAN has enabled a wealth of applications.

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References

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Dr. Iouli E. Gordon, the current director of the HITRAN project, for suggestions. Work on HITRAN at the Harvard-Smithsonian has been funded by NASA.

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  1. Atomic & Molecular Physics Division, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Laurence S. Rothman

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  1. Laurence S. Rothman
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Correspondence to Laurence S. Rothman.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Rothman, L.S. History of the HITRAN Database. Nat Rev Phys 3, 302–304 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-021-00309-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-021-00309-2

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