Walter Kohn: the theoretical physicist who created DFT and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry

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• Prof. Sir David Clary, FRS (University of Oxford)
• Thursday 22 May 2025, 14:00-15:30
• Seminar Room 3, RDC.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Bo Peng.

Density Functional Theory (DFT) has become one of the most highly cited techniques in science, widely used for simulations in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology. The modern form of DFT was invented by Walter Kohn after a remarkable personal journey which included escaping on the Kindertransport to England on almost the last train out of Vienna in August 1939, and then being interned in Canada deep in a forest miles from civilisation. Despite these disadvantages, Walter Kohn was able to have an exceptional academic career in theoretical solid state physics which culminated in DFT and the Nobel Prize (but for Chemistry, not Physics). Drawing on fresh insights from his recent biography Walter Kohn: From Kindertransport and Internment to DFT and the Nobel Prize , David Clary will describe the remarkable life, career and science of Walter Kohn.

This talk is part of the Theory of Condensed Matter series.

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