Prof C.J.H. Schutte, former Professor of Physical Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of South Africa, retired as Chief Executive Director: Science, Technology and Informatics at UNISA in 1998. He was appointed Extrordinary Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pretoria in 2007, as well as Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Studies. He is at present involved with the new IBM-Supercomputer of the University of Pretoria, with special emphasis on scientific computing.
He is one of the founder members of the prestigious Academy of Science of South Africa. He was awarded the Havenga Prize for Chemistry of the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, as well as the James Moir Memorial Medal of the SA Chemical Institute.
He was the leader of the South African delegation to the bi-annual meetings of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) from 1973 to 1997.
Professor Schutte's main research interest in Chemistry centres on quantum theory and the structure of matter. He acted as promoter and co-promoter of more than 30 Ph.D. and 20 M.Sc. students. He has published over 70 research papers in international scientific journals and participated in numerous scientific conferences.
He is the author of two textbooks, The Wave Mechanics of Atoms, Molecules and Ions (Edward Arnold, London, 1968) and The Theory of Molecular Spectroscopy (Elsevier, New York/Amsterdam, 1976), which were both prescribed at universities around the world.
More recently, as a specialist in distance education, his interest shifted to telematics and education, especially to education using a confluence of techniques on the Internet, with special emphasis on the teaching of mathematical subjects via distance education. He has delivered papers at many South African and international conferences on Informatics and Telematics and he serves on the Organising Committee of the annual ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN conferences. He also acted as IT consultant for the South African Department of Education, contributing to the very important TELI Report. He is co-author of the review dealing with the internet and telematics education on the African Continent, published by the Commonwealth of Learning.