Walter Kohn, Austrian-born American theoretical physicist, Died at 93

  Reseacher

Walter Kohn was born on March 9, 1923, and died on April 19, 2016.

He was an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist and theoretical chemist.

Kohn was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1998.

The award showed recognized of their contributions to the understandings of the electronic properties of materials.

Mostly, Kohn played the leading role in the development of density functional theory, which made it possible to incorporate quantum mechanical effects in the electronic density (rather than through its many-body wavefunction).

However, this computational simplification led to many insights and became an essential tool for electronic materials, atomic and molecular structure.

Walter relinquished his Canadian citizenship and became a naturalized citizen of the United States, in 1957.

During the year 1963, Kohn became a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1969, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

As of 2011, he became an honorary member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), and was also a Member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.

Walter Kohn passed away at 93 yrs old.