NT
This course benefits me because it provides knowledge from fundamental to advanced about DFT and its applications! I enjoy this course!

The aim of this course is to give a thorough introduction to Density Functional Theory (DFT). DFT is today the most widely used method to study interacting electrons, and its applicability ranges from atoms to solid systems, from nuclei to quantum fluids. In this course, we introduce the most important concepts underlying DFT, its foundation, and basic ideas. We will in particular stress the features and reasons that lead DFT to become the dominant method for simulating quantum mechanical systems. The course is intended for students and researchers with knowledge of basic quantum mechanics. No experience in simulation or solid-state physics is required. We try to give a concise mathematical background when particular concepts are needed.

NT
This course benefits me because it provides knowledge from fundamental to advanced about DFT and its applications! I enjoy this course!
KZ
It's worth everyone's time; period! It gives a very informative introduction to DFT. Given that the learner studies all the provided notes and bibliography, it is bound success!
BA
Very advanced courSe focused on the basics and development of DFT but the course should be a bit on how to use DFT practically
PK
All the lectures are very nicely prepared and explained. I learned a lot related to DFT concepts through this course. I really thank the entire Ecole Team for their effort in such a nice course.
ZZ
Only the theoretical part is included in the course; it would be better if we could be guided to have hands-on experience with DFT software and data.
QA
DFT has become the dominant method for simulating quantum mechanical systems. It was an honor to learn DFT fundamentals from this prestigious institute via Coursera.
DP
more application base examples should be thaught this course was more theoritical and after completing my course I still dont know how to implement on my work
MK
This course is great. I have learned lots of things from this course. It clears all my doubts about the theoretical studies. Thanks.
SJ
It was a great experience. Simply, we run the program like VASP, QE, and so on. But the background of the coding is more important. The fundamentals of DFT are clearly explained. Very useful.
MP
Hello, thank you for your efforts in the course. It was very useful and beautiful. I hope you will always be healthy and happy. Mohammad Pakzad from Iran.
RM
Absolutely fantastic course! Everything is taught from first principles, and I am now more confident with regards to the underlying mathematical and physical concepts behind DFT.
TL
Great course explains very well, understand everything they say,and Now im fan of KS equations thanks to this course ,I recommended every physics graduate must do this
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The faculty taught with amazing passion, as if we were sitting in front.
I would have preferred some lecture notes on LDA as well. Rest of the course was inch perfect
Great course. The links provided to papers( whenever details were left out during lectures) were very helpful. The lecture notes were easy to understand.
The assignments are very easy to pass, and the feedback I received from both the peer review and the AI‑graded assignment lacked substance. The lectures are acceptable, but in my view they focused too much on the personalities of the researchers and history of the subject rather than on the essence of DFT. In addition, the lecturers spent too much time manipulating symbols before fully explaining the necessary approximations. There is a significant gap between the level of the lectures and the understanding required to fully appreciate the connections to research. The discussion board has old unanswered questions--if you are looking for answers to your questions, look somewhere else. Overall, I'm not impressed.
i am simply amazed. looking forward to another course related to the computational calculations.
it was great for people who already have a bit of knowledge about the whole thing but not highly recomended for young starters
I am not able to understand why the certificate mentions it as a non-credit course. The purpose behind my doing this course was also to get university credits. It now looks like a waste of time. Of course I enjoyed doing the course
Even though I have taken courses in Atomic Physics and Quantum Mechanics including QFT, much of the material was new to me and very interesting. The lecturers have made quite an effort to compress coherently and well a great deal of information into a three-week course. They teach with manifest interest to get the students engaged. I've taught one course once and know how hard it is to do it well. My only quibble is that the lecture notes could be more and better. Also, many of the reference papers are unavailable to those of us far from an academic environment. Here in the US it costs typically $35 to rent w/o copy a paper. To buy the paper is more money. If there ever was going to be a revised version of this course I would like to see lectures on QMC and extensions of DFT (time-dependence, magnetic properties of materials). Thank you very much.
First things first, the title music of the course was top class! Whoever composed it, has a separate amount of applause dedicated :)
Next, I thoroughly enjoyed the course, especially loved how the instructors were delivering the lectures more in a storytelling way, which, I am sure must have kept many people engaged. I am someone who has been working with DFT for a year now but I do not have a very good theoretical background of it. That's the main reason I wanted to take this course. I hope Ecole Polytechnique comes up with a more advanced version of this course.
An excellent course. The teachers are fantastic. They explain things in depth with simple words. Also, it seems that the whole team there put quite an effort. I have made video/recodrings before and I know is very difficult. Very explanatory and now I believe I have a solid foundation to study related papers and books. One suggestion though, maybe to include more details on the numerical details on solving the Khon-Sham equations. On the expansion on the orbitals if am not wrong.
I would give it more than 5 stars if I could. I have been working on DFT for 10 months and although I have learnt lots of practical stuff (which is not the scope of this course), I had no idea about what made my DFT calculations possible, what was the theory behind VASP, QUANTUM EXPRESSO and similars. Now, even though I do not master the concepts covered in this course, I got the big picture, as well as the core concepts - these are enough for what I do. Thank you, professors!
I enjoyed learning this course. I was exposed to the rigorous mathematics that makes up DFT, the current practical applications and limitations that DFT faces, with a dash of the historical storyline that has brought DFT this far. The instructors keep it as simple as possible, and still teach effectively. I would recommend that one should have at least a low level knowledge of calculus if they do not want to find the mathematics aspect too difficult.
This is an excellent course, accessible to students and graduates of various backgrounds. The people who are pointing out the lack of focus on applied DFT must know that the theoretical background is required to properly handle and understand DFT computations. The world doesn't lack tutorials on open-source computational chemistry software -- it lacks courses that provide the necessary background to properly use them.
Excellent course with a clear and rigorous introduction to Density Functional Theory. The lectures explain both the theoretical foundations and practical aspects of electronic structure calculations very well. Highly recommended for students and researchers in condensed matter physics and quantum chemistry.
This course was just fantastic. DFT is not trivial and it has taken decades of experience of the instructors to distil their knowledge into this introduction. Every instructor was superb and the way they communicated it appeared as if I was listening to them in person.
It is a very well-prepared course. From getting the interest of students through History and Scientists of DFT to making them solve complex differential equations, this course provides it all. It is a very suitable course for a beginner in DFT.
This course offers a thorough understanding of Density Functional Theory, covering topics from basic to advanced levels. The instructors' command of this topic is amazing, and the course content fulfills our need for DFT knowledge.
Great course. I will recommend it to anyone who wants to learn with rigor the basics of DFT, Kohn-Sham method and its applicability. Very good instructors give fantastic explanations in non trivial topics.
All the lectures are very nicely prepared and explained. I learned a lot related to DFT concepts through this course. I really thank the entire Ecole Team for their effort in such a nice course.
It was a great experience. Simply, we run the program like VASP, QE, and so on. But the background of the coding is more important. The fundamentals of DFT are clearly explained. Very useful.