Lev Davidovich Landau (1908 - 1968) was a Soviet theoretical physicist whose research encompassed nearly every branch of physics and who received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering theories of condensed matter, especially the superfluidity of liquid helium.[1] Working principally at the Institute for Physical Problems in Moscow, he founded an influential school of theoretical physics and co-authored a celebrated multi-volume course that trained generations of scientists.[2]
Early life and education
Landau was born on 22 January 1908 in Baku, then part of the Russian Empire and now the capital of Azerbaijan. A mathematical prodigy, he entered Baku State University and later transferred to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the university in Leningrad, from which he graduated in physics. In the late 1920s a fellowship allowed him to travel through Western Europe, where he studied under Niels Bohr in Copenhagen. Landau regarded Bohr as his principal teacher and remained deeply influenced by him.[3]
Career
After returning to the Soviet Union, Landau led the theoretical department of the Ukrainian Physico-Technical Institute in Kharkiv, where he began building a rigorous programme of instruction in theoretical physics. In 1937 he moved to Moscow to head the theoretical division of Pyotr Kapitza's Institute for Physical Problems. In 1938, during the Great Purge, he was arrested and imprisoned for a year; he was released only after Kapitza intervened on his behalf with the authorities.[3]
Scientific contributions
Landau's output was extraordinarily broad. He developed the theory of the superfluidity of liquid helium and its two-fluid model, the work for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. His name is attached to numerous concepts, including Landau diamagnetism, Landau levels, Landau damping, and the Landau theory of second-order phase transitions. With Vitaly Ginzburg he formulated a phenomenological theory of superconductivity, and he laid the groundwork for Fermi-liquid theory. Together with his student Evgeny Lifshitz, he wrote the monumental Course of Theoretical Physics, a series that became a standard reference worldwide.[2]
Later years and legacy
In January 1962 Landau was gravely injured in a car accident near Moscow. Although he survived, his scientific career effectively ended, and he received the Nobel Prize later that year from the Swedish ambassador at his hospital bedside. He died in Moscow on 1 April 1968 from complications related to his injuries. His legacy endures through the school of physicists he trained, the enduring textbooks he co-authored, and the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, which bears his name.[1]
