Eur. Phys. J. B (2018) 91: 250
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2018-90420-2

Colloquium

The early scientific work (1976–2000) of E.K.U. Gross^★

CFisUC, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, Rua Larga, 3004-516 Coimbra, Portugal

^a e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 27 June 2018
Received in final form: 28 August 2018
Published online: 10 October 2018

Abstract

I review the scientific production of Eberhard K.U. Gross (Hardy Gross) in the first 25 years of his scientific career, from his study time at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main to the time he moved to the Free University of Berlin, as Full Professor. In between there was a fruitful period, in which he worked at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with Walter Kohn, the “father” of Density Functional Theory (DFT). DFT has been the permanent tool of Hardy Gross research. His main achievement in the considered period is the proof of an existence theorem for the Time-Dependent Density Functional (TDDFT) and the search for application schemes in atoms, molecules and solids, starting with linear response. He made notable contributions to the application of DFT and TDDFT to superconductors, in static and dynamic cases.