Etymology

Slater determinant

Today it means: An expression that describes the wavefunction of a multifermionic system. It satisfies antisymmetry requirements, and consequently the Pauli exclusion principle, by changing sign upon exchange of two electrons (or other fermions). Full definition →

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The story

Named after John C. Slater, who introduced the determinant in 1929 as a means of ensuring the antisymmetry of a many-electron wavefunction, although the wavefunction in the determinant form first appeared independently in Heisenberg's and Dirac's articles three years earlier.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.