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Walter Kohn showed
in 1964-65 that the energy of a
quantum-mechanical system is uniquely
determined by its electron density. This
quantity is more easily handled than the
complicated wave function in the
Schrödinger equation. Kohn also provided a
method which made it possible to set up
equations whose solutions give the system's
electron density and energy. This method,
called density functional theory, has become
widely used in chemistry since, because of its
simplicity, it can be applied to fairly large
molecules.
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