A statistical method for calculating the electronic structure of atoms; it was devised independently by Llewellyn Hilleth Thomas (1903–92) and Enrico Fermi in 1927. As the main quantity of interest in Thomas–Fermi theory is the electron density, the theory can be regarded as a precursor of density functional theory. The theory is exact in the limit of infinite atomic number. It is not very accurate quantitatively but is useful for calculating qualitative trends for electrons in atoms.