NDLI: The education of Walter Kohn and the creation of density functional theory

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Zangwill, Andrew
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	The theoretical solid-state physicist Walter Kohn was awarded one-half of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his mid-1960s creation of an approach to the many-particle problem in quantum mechanics called density functional theory (DFT). In its exact form, DFT establishes that the total charge density of any system of electrons and nuclei provides all the information needed for a complete description of that system. This was a breakthrough for the study of atoms, molecules, gases, liquids, and solids. Before DFT, it was thought that knowledge of the vastly more complicated many-electron wave function was essential for a complete description of such systems. Today, 50 years after its introduction, DFT (in one of its approximate forms) is the method of choice used by most scientists to calculate the physical properties of materials of all kinds. In this paper, I present a biographical essay of Kohn’s educational experiences and professional career up to and including the creation of DFT. My account begins with Kohn’s student years in Austria, England, and Canada during World War II and continues with his graduate and postgraduate training at Harvard University and Niels Bohr’s Institute for Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen. I then study the research choices he made during the first 10 years of his career (when he was a faculty member at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and a frequent visitor to the Bell Telephone Laboratories) in the context of the theoretical solid-state physics agenda of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Subsequent sections discuss his move to the University of California, San Diego, identify the research issue which led directly to DFT, and analyze the two foundational papers of the theory. The paper concludes with an explanation of how the chemists came to award “their” Nobel Prize to the physicist Kohn and a discussion of why he was unusually well suited to create the theory in the first place.
Starting Page	775
Ending Page	848
Page Count	74
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00039519
Journal	Archive for History of Exact Sciences
Volume Number	68
Issue Number	6
e-ISSN	14320657
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2014-05-18
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	History of Mathematical Sciences Philosophy of Science History of Science Mathematics Astronomy, Observations and Techniques History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Mathematics History and Philosophy of Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Hartree and Thomas: the forefathers of density functional theory

Britton’s theory of the creation of Column $$\varPhi $$ in Babylonian System A lunar theory

Historical development of Teichmüller theory

On Philolaus’ astronomy

On Jacobi’s transformation theory of elliptic functions

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz’s struggle with quantum theory

Correspondence principle versus Planck-type theory of the atom

Leibniz’s syncategorematic infinitesimals

Solar and lunar observations at Istanbul in the 1570s

The education of Walter Kohn and the creation of density functional theory

Similar Documents

Hartree and Thomas: the forefathers of density functional theory

Britton’s theory of the creation of Column $$\varPhi $$ in Babylonian System A lunar theory

Historical development of Teichmüller theory

On Philolaus’ astronomy

On Jacobi’s transformation theory of elliptic functions

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz’s struggle with quantum theory

Correspondence principle versus Planck-type theory of the atom

Leibniz’s syncategorematic infinitesimals

Solar and lunar observations at Istanbul in the 1570s

The education of Walter Kohn and the creation of density functional theory