Background
Hellmann was born in Wilhelmshaven, Prussian Hanover.
Hellmann was born in Wilhelmshaven, Prussian Hanover.
Hellmann also studied at the University of Kiel. He received his Doctor of Philosophy at Stuttgart with Professor Erich Regener, who was also the landlord of his future spouse Victoria Bernstein.
He began studying electrical engineering in Stuttgart, but changed to engineering physics after a semester. He received his diploma from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin under Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner. In 1929 Hellmann became assistant professor at the University of Hanover.
He immigrated to the Soviet Union, taking up a position in Moscow.
In science, his name is primarily associated with the Hellmann–Feynman theorem, as well as with one of the first-ever textbooks on quantum chemistry (‘Kvantovaya Khimiya’, 1937. Translated into German as ‘Einfuehrung in die Quantenchemie’, Vienna, 1937).
He pioneered several approaches now commonplace in quantum chemistry, notably the use of pseudopotentials.