Quotes by Walter Kohn

About Walter Kohn:

Walter Kohn is an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist. He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to the understandings of the electronic properties of materials. In particular, 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). This computational simplification led to many insights and became an essential tool for electronic materials, atomic and molecular structure.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I was born in 1923 into a middle class Jewish family in Vienna, a few years after the end of World War I, which was disastrous from the Austrian point of view.

Walter Kohn

On another level, I want to mention that I have a strong Jewish identity and - over the years - have been involved in several Jewish projects, such as the establishment of a strong program of Judaic Studies at the University of California in San Dieg...

Walter Kohn

My commitment to a humane and peaceful world continues to this day.

Walter Kohn

I have just joined the Board of the Population Institute because I am convinced that early stabilization of the world's population is important for the attainment of this objective.

Walter Kohn

I was fortunate to find an extraordinary mathematics and applied mathematics program in Toronto.

Walter Kohn

During one or two summers, as well as part-time during the school year, I worked for a small Canadian company which developed electrical instruments for military planes.

Walter Kohn

Originally I had planned to revert to nuclear physics there, in particular the structure of the deuteron.

Walter Kohn

My project was radiation damage of Si and Ge by energetic electrons, critical for the use of the recently developed semiconductor devices for applications in outer space.

Walter Kohn

In particular, I established a reasonably accurate energy threshold for permanent displacement of a nucleus from its regular lattice position, substantially smaller than had been previously presumed.

Walter Kohn

My father, who had lost a brother, fighting on the Austrian side in World War I, was a committed pacifist.

Walter Kohn

However, while the Nazi barbarians and their collaborators threatened the entire world, I could not accept his philosophy and, after several earlier attempts, was finally accepted into the Canadian Infantry Corps during the last year of World War II.

Walter Kohn

Author Bio

  • NameWalter Kohn
  • DescriptionAmerican physicist
  • BornMarch 9, 1923
  • CountryCanada; United States Of America; Austria
  • ProfessionPhysicist
  • AwardsUNESCO Niels Bohr Medal; Great Silver Medal With Star For Services To The Republic Of Austria; Nobel Prize In Chemistry