Hartree and Thomas: the forefathers of density functional theory (Q354154)

This is an article on the work of two prominent British physicists and applied mathematicians, both students (like Paul Dirac, who is, however, not discussed here in detail) of Ralph Fowler in Cambridge in the 1920s. Each of them developed an approximation method to compute the properties of many-electron atoms in a field, called density functional theory. Hartree was also instrumental in promoting and popularizing the use of computers (both analog and digital) before and after WWII. Thomas is credited with the first variable-step-size algorithm for the efficient numerical integration of a differential equation. The article goes thoroughly into the physical details and less so into the biographies.