The advent of ab initio simulations of dense plasmas

We present the story of full three-dimensional ab initio simulation techniques of dense plasmas based on the Kohn–Sham realization of the density functional theory, starting from early attempts using the Car–Parrinello method to the most recent approaches based on density matrix. We recall the decisive role played by two experiments, one on the Nova laser and the other at a much smaller scale, with pulsed electrical discharges. We emphasize that the essential roles of the Physics of Non-Ideal Plasmas (PNP) and Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems (SCCS) conference series were most results, and simulation tools were presented and discussed under the benevolent presence of Vladimir Fortov.