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

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.