Education
Abitur in Humanities, Gymnasium Bielefeld, Germany (1938)
Licence ès sciences, Chemistry and Mathematics, University of Fribourg, Switzerland (1944)
Ph.D., Theoretical Physics, University of Zürich, Switzerland (1950), with G. Wentzel
Research Associate, Molecular Physics, University of Chicago (1950-1955), with R.S. Mulliken
Professional Positions
Assistant and Associate Professor in Chemistry and Physics, Scientist at the Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University (1955-62)
Professor of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University (1962-64)
Professor in Chemistry and Physics, Senior Scientist in the Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University (1964-91)
Distinguished Professor in Sciences and Humanities, Iowa State University (1978-91)
Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Associate in the Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University (1991-Present)
Invited Visiting Faculty Positions:
Summer School, University of Uppsala, Sweden (1959);
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, NY (1960);
Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Naples, Italy (1961);
Summer School, Robert College, Istanbul, Turkey (1964);
Physical and Organic Chemistry Institutes, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland (1966/67);
Summer Institute, Tufts University, Boston, MA (1968);
Chemistry Department, Washington State University, Pullman, WA (1970);
Chemistry Department., University of California at Santa Cruz, CA (1973);
Physical Chemistry Institute, University of Bonn, Germany (1974);
Chemistry Department, Monash University, and CSIRO David Rivett Laboratory, Clayton, Victoria, Australia (1982);
Physical Chemistry Institute, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany (1987)
Honors
Fellow, American Physical Society (1962)
Guggenheim Fellow (1966-67)
Elected to International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences (1973)
Honorary Ph.D., University of Basel, Switzerland (1975)
Fellow, American Institute of Chemists (1979)
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (1980)
American Chemical Society Midwest Award (1982)
Fulbright Senior Scholar (1982)
Honorary Ph.D., University of Bielefeld, Germany (1991)
Special Issue of Theoretica Chimica Acta in honor of Klaus Ruedenberg (1992)
Honorary Ph.D., University of Siegen, Germany (1994)
Honorary Editor, Theoretical Chemistry Accounts (1996 – present)
Special Issue of the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry in honor of K.R. (2000)
American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry (2002)
Elected Honorary Member, International Academy of Mathematical Chemistry (2005)
Festschrift of the Journal of Physical Chemistry in honor of Klaus Ruedenberg (2010)
Hans Hellmann Lecture Award, University of Marburg, Germany (2013)
Member, Honorary Board of Directors, International Soc. f. Theoretical Chemical Physics (2016)
Inaugural Peter Pulay Lecture, University of Arkansas (2017)
Schrödinger Medal, World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (2018)
Fellow and permanent member of the Board of the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (2018)
59th Sanibel Symposium in theoretical chemistry held in honor of K. R. (February, 2019)
Professional Activities
Taught yearly courses in physical chemistry and quantum chemistry.
Supervised, administered and conducted the review of all graduate students (~200/year) at the Iowa State University Chemistry Department for twelve years.
Directed the research of 22 Ph.D. graduate student theses and 17 postdoctoral scientists.
Co-organizer of the Fourth Midwest Theoretical Chemistry Conference, Ames, IA (1970).
Member of the Executive Committee of four for the 2nd International Congress in Quantum Chemistry in New Orleans, LA (1976)
Editor in Chief of Theoretica Chimica Acta (1985-96)