This method was developed in Richard F. Fenske's research group at the University of Wisconsin.
The method is named after Fenske and Michael B.
It is ab initio in the sense that it does not make use of parameters from experimental data (see semi-empirical quantum chemistry method).
It is able to predict the shapes of molecular orbitals and their energies that are similar to the more rigorous analysis by density functional theory (DFT), but using less computational resources.
As a result, some consider the Fenske–Hall method an approximation to DFT.