Lev Landau

Lev Landau
Born	Lev Davidovich Landau (1908-01-22)22 January 1908 Baku, Baku Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	1 April 1968(1968-04-01) (aged 60) Moscow, Soviet Union
Residence	Soviet Union
Citizenship	Soviet Union
Fields	Theoretical physics
Institutions	Kharkov Polytechnical Institute and Kharkov University (later Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology) Institute for Physical Problems (RAS) MSU Faculty of Physics
Education	Baku Economical Technical School
Alma mater	Baku State University Leningrad State University (diploma, 1927) Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute (D.Sc., 1934)
Academic advisors	Niels Bohr
Doctoral students	Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov
Other notable students	Evgeny Lifshitz
Known for	Landau damping Landau distribution Landau gauge Landau pole Landau susceptibility Landau potential Landau quantization Landau theory Landau–Hopf theory of turbulence Ginzburg–Landau theory Landau–Lifshitz aeroacoustic equation Landau–Raychaudhuri equation Landau–Zener formula Landau–Lifshitz model Landau-Lifshitz pseudotensor Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation Landau–Pomeranchuk–Migdal effect Landau–Yang theorem Superfluidity Superconductivity Landau-Squire jet Course of Theoretical Physics
Notable awards	Stalin Prize (1946) Max Planck Medal (1960) Nobel Prize in Physics (1962)
Spouse	K. T. Drobanzeva (married 1937; 1 child) (1908–1984)

Lev Davidovich Landau (Russian: Лев Дави́дович Ланда́у; IPA: [lʲɛv dɐˈvidəvʲitɕ lɐnˈda.u]; January 22 [O.S. January 9] 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics. His accomplishments include the independent co-discovery of the density matrix method^[1] in quantum mechanics (alongside John von Neumann), the quantum mechanical theory of diamagnetism, the theory of superfluidity, the theory of second-order phase transitions, the Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity, the theory of Fermi liquid, the explanation of Landau damping in plasma physics, the Landau pole in quantum electrodynamics, the two-component theory of neutrinos, and Landau's equations for S matrix singularities.^[2] He received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics for his development of a mathematical theory of superfluidity that accounts for the properties of liquid helium II at a temperature below 7000217000000000000♠2.17 K (7000216999999999995♠−270.98 °C).^[3]

Life

Early years

Landau was born on 22 January 1908 to Jewish parents^[3][4][5][6] in Baku, Azerbaijan, in what was then the Russian Empire. Landau's father was an engineer with the local oil industry and his mother was a doctor. He learned to differentiate at age 12 and to integrate at age 13. Landau graduated in 1920 at age 13 from gymnasium. His parents considered him too young to attend university, so for a year he attended the Baku Economical Technical School (техникум). In 1922, at age 14, he matriculated at the Baku State University, studying in two departments simultaneously: the Departments of Physics and Mathematics, and the Department of Chemistry. Subsequently, he ceased studying chemistry, but remained interested in the field throughout his life.

Leningrad and Europe

In 1924, he moved to the main centre of Soviet physics at the time: the Physics Department of Leningrad State University. In Leningrad, he first made the acquaintance of theoretical physics and dedicated himself fully to its study, graduating in 1927. Landau subsequently enrolled for post-graduate studies at the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute where he eventually received a doctorate in Physical and Mathematical Sciences in 1934.^[7] Landau got his first chance to travel abroad during the period 1929–1931, on a Soviet government—People's Commissariat for Education—travelling fellowship supplemented by a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship. By that time he was fluent in German and French and could communicate in English.^[8] He later improved his English and learned Danish.^[9]

After brief stays in Göttingen and Leipzig, he went to Copenhagen on 8 April 1930 to work at the Niels Bohr's Institute for Theoretical Physics. He stayed there till 3 May of the same year. After the visit, Landau always considered himself a pupil of Niels Bohr and Landau's approach to physics was greatly influenced by Bohr. After his stay in Copenhagen, he visited Cambridge (mid-1930), where he worked with P. A. M. Dirac,^[10] Copenhagen ( 20 to 22 September 22 November 1930),^[11] and Zurich (December 1930 to January 1931), where he worked with Wolfgang Pauli.^[10] From Zurich Landau went back to Copenhagen for the third time^[12] and stayed there from 25 February till 19 March 1931 before returning to Leningrad the same year.^[13]

National Scientific Center Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology, Kharkov

Between 1932 and 1937 he headed the Department of Theoretical Physics at the National Scientific Center Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology and lectured at the University of Kharkov and the Kharkov Polytechnical Institute. Apart from his theoretical accomplishments, Landau was the principal founder of a great tradition of theoretical physics in Kharkov, Soviet Union, sometimes referred to as the "Landau school". In Kharkov, he and his friend and former student, Evgeny Lifshitz, began writing the Course of Theoretical Physics, ten volumes that together span the whole of the subject and are still widely used as graduate-level physics texts. During the Great Purge, Landau was investigated within the UPTI Affair in Kharkov, but he managed to leave for Moscow to take up a new post.^[14]

Landau developed a famous comprehensive exam called the "Theoretical Minimum" which students were expected to pass before admission to the school. The exam covered all aspects of theoretical physics, and between 1934 and 1961 only 43 candidates passed, but those who did later became quite notable theoretical physicists.^[15][16]

In 1932, he computed the Chandrashekhar limit;^[17] however, he did not apply it to white dwarf stars.

Institute for Physical Problems, Moscow

Landau was the head of the Theoretical Division at the Institute for Physical Problems from 1937 until 1962.^[18] Landau was arrested on 27 April 1938, because he had compared the Stalinist dictatorship with that of Hitler,^[14][19] and was held in the NKVD's Lubyanka prison until his release on 29 April 1939, after the head of the institute Pyotr Kapitsa, an experimental low-temperature physicist, wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin, personally vouching for Landau's behavior, and threatening to quit the institute if Landau were not released.^[20] After his release Landau discovered how to explain Kapitsa's superfluidity using sound waves, or phonons, and a new excitation called a roton.^[14]

Landau led a team of mathematicians supporting Soviet atomic and hydrogen bomb development. Landau calculated the dynamics of the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb, including predicting the yield. For this work he received the Stalin Prize in 1949 and 1953, and was awarded the title "Hero of Socialist Labour" in 1954.^[14]

His students included Lev Pitaevskii, Alexei Abrikosov, Evgeny Lifshitz, Lev Gor'kov, Isaak Khalatnikov, Roald Sagdeev and Isaak Pomeranchuk.

Scientific achievements

Landau's accomplishments include the independent co-discovery of the density matrix method in quantum mechanics (alongside John von Neumann), the quantum mechanical theory of diamagnetism, the theory of superfluidity, the theory of second-order phase transitions, the Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity, the theory of Fermi liquid, the explanation of Landau damping in plasma physics, the Landau pole in quantum electrodynamics, the two-component theory of neutrinos, and Landau's equations for S matrix singularities.

He received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics for his development of a mathematical theory of superfluidity that accounts for the properties of liquid helium II at a temperature below 2.17 K (−270.98 °C)." ^[21]

Personal life and views

Landau family in 1910

In 1937 Landau married a woman from Kharkov, Kora T. Drobanzeva;^[22] their son Igor was born in 1946. Landau believed in "free love" rather than monogamy, and encouraged his wife and his students to practise "free love"; his wife was not enthusiastic.^[14] During his life, Landau was admitted involuntarily six times to the Kashchenko psychiatric hospital.^[23]

He was an atheist.^[24][25] In 1957 a lengthy report to the CPSU Central Committee by the KGB recorded Landau's views on the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, Lenin, and what he termed "red fascism".^[26]

Last years

On 7 January 1962, Landau's car collided with an oncoming truck. He was severely injured and spent two months in a coma. Although Landau recovered in many ways, his scientific creativity was destroyed,^[18] and he never returned fully to scientific work. His injuries prevented him from accepting the 1962 Nobel Prize for physics in person.^[27]

Throughout his whole life Landau was known for his sharp humour, which can be illustrated by the following dialogue with a psychiatrist (P), who tried to test for a possible brain damage while Landau (L) was recovering from the car crash:^[9]

P: "Please draw me a circle"

L draws a cross

P: "Hm, now draw me a cross"

L draws a circle

P: "Landau, why don't you do what I ask?"

L: "If I did, you might come to think I've become mentally retarded".

In 1965 former students and co-workers of Landau founded the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, located in the town of Chernogolovka near Moscow, and led for the following three decades by Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov.

In June 1965, Lev Landau and Yevsei Liberman published a letter in the New York Times, stating that as Soviet Jews they opposed U.S. intervention on behalf of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry.^[28]

Death

Landau died on 1 April 1968, aged 60, from complications of the injuries sustained in the car accident he was involved in six years earlier. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.^[29][30]

Legacy

A commemorative Russian silver coin dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Landau's birth

Landau in 1962^[9] on a 2010 Ukrainian stamp

Two celestial objects are named in his honour:

• the minor planet 2142 Landau.^[31]
• the lunar crater Landau.

The highest prize in theoretical physics awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences is named in his honour:

• Landau Gold Medal

Landau's List

Landau kept a list of names of physicists which he ranked on a logarithmic scale of productivity ranging from 0 to 5.^[32] The highest ranking, 0, was assigned to Isaac Newton. Albert Einstein was ranked 0.5. A rank of 1 was awarded to the founding fathers of quantum mechanics, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger, and others. Landau ranked himself as a 2.5 but later promoted himself to a 2. David Mermin, writing about Landau, referred to the scale, and ranked himself in the fourth division, in the article "My Life with Landau: Homage of a 4.5 to a 2".^[32][33]

In popular culture

• The Russian television film My Husband – the Genius (unofficial translation of the Russian title Мой муж – гений) released in 2008 tells the biography of Landau (played by Daniil Spivakovsky), mostly focusing on his private life. It was generally panned by critics. People who had personally met Landau, including famous Russian scientist Vitaly Ginzburg, said that the film was not only terrible but also false in historical facts.
• Another film about Landau, Dau, is directed by Ilya Khrzhanovsky with non-professional actor Teodor Currentzis (an orchestra conductor) as Landau. Dau was a common nickname of Lev Landau.^[34]

Works

Landau and Lifshitz Course of Theoretical Physics

• L.D. Landau, E.M. Lifshitz (1976). Mechanics. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2896-9. 
• L.D. Landau; E.M. Lifshitz (1975). The Classical Theory of Fields. Vol. 2 (4th ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2768-9. 
• L.D. Landau; E.M. Lifshitz (1977). Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory. Vol. 3 (3rd ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-020940-1.  — 2nd ed. (1965) at archive.org
• V.B. Berestetskii, E.M. Lifshitz, L.P. Pitaevskii (1982). Quantum Electrodynamics. Vol. 4 (2nd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-3371-0. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
• L.D. Landau; E.M. Lifshitz (1980). Statistical Physics, Part 1. Vol. 5 (3rd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-3372-7. 
• L.D. Landau; E.M. Lifshitz (1987). Fluid Mechanics. Vol. 6 (2nd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-08-033933-7. 
• L.D. Landau; E.M. Lifshitz (1986). Theory of Elasticity. Vol. 7 (3rd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2633-0. 
• L.D. Landau; E.M. Lifshitz; L.P. Pitaevskii (1984). Electrodynamics of Continuous Media. Vol. 8 (1st ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2634-7. 
• L.P. Pitaevskii; E.M. Lifshitz (1980). Statistical Physics, Part 2. Vol. 9 (1st ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-2636-1. 
• L.P. Pitaevskii; E.M. Lifshitz (1981). Physical Kinetics. Vol. 10 (1st ed.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-7506-2635-4. 

Other

• L.D. Landau, A.J. Akhiezer, E.M. Lifshitz (1967). General Physics, Mechanics and Molecular Physics. Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-009106-8. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
• L.D. Landau; A.I. Kitaigorodsky (1978). Physics for Everyone. Mir Publishers Moscow. 
• L.D. Landau; Ya. Smorodinsky (2011). Lectures on Nuclear Theory. Dover Publications. 

A complete list of Landau's works appeared in 1998 in the Russian journal Physics-Uspekhi.^[35] Landau would allow to list himself as a co-author of a journal article on two conditions: 1) he brought up the idea of the work, partly or entirely, and 2) he performed at least some calculations presented in the article. Consequently he removed his name from numerous publications of his students where his contribution was less significant.^[34]

See also

• Landau–Hopf theory of turbulence
• Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation
• Landau–Lifshitz model
• Landau (crater)
• Landau theory of second order phase transitions
• Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity
• Landau quantization, Landau levels
• Landau damping
• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

References

Further reading

Books

• Dorozynski, Alexander (1965). The Man They Wouldn't Let Die. Secker and Warburg. ASIN B0006DC8BA.  (After Landau's 1962 car accident, the physics community around him rallied to attempt to save his life. They managed to prolong his life until 1968.)
• Janouch, Frantisek (1979). Lev D. Landau: His life and work. CERN. ASIN B0007AUCL0. 
• Khalatnikov, I.M., ed. (1989). Landau. The physicist and the man. Recollections of L.D. Landau. Sykes, J.B. (trans.). Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-036383-0. 
• Kojevnikov, Alexei B. (2004). Stalin's Great Science: The Times and Adventures of Soviet Physicists. History of Modern Physical Sciences. Imperial College Press. ISBN 1-86094-420-5. 
• Landau-Drobantseva, Kora (1999). Professor Landau: How We Lived (in Russian). AST. ISBN 5-8159-0019-2. 
• Shifman, M., ed. (2013). Under the Spell of Landau: When Theoretical Physics was Shaping Destinies. World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-4436-56-4. doi:10.1142/8641. 

Articles

• Karl Hufbauer, "Landau's youthful sallies into stellar theory: Their origins, claims, and receptions", Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, 37 (2007), 337–354.
• "As a student, Landau dared to correct Einstein in a lecture". Global Talent News.
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Lev Landau", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews .
• Lev Davidovich Landau. Nobel-Winners.
• Landau's Theoretical Minimum, Landau's Seminar, ITEP in the Beginning of the 1950s by Boris L. Ioffe, Concluding talk at the workshop QCD at the Threshold of the Fourth Decade/Ioeffest.
• EJTP Landau Issue 2008.
• Ammar Sakaji and Ignazio Licata (eds),Lev Davidovich Landau and his Impact on Contemporary Theoretical Physics, Nova Science Publishers, New York, 2009, ISBN 978-1-60692-908-7.
• Gennady Gorelik, "The Top Secret Life of Lev Landau", Scientific American, Aug. 1997, vol. 277(2), 53–57.

External links

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Lev Landau" article dated 2016-01-23, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• Media related to Lev Landau at Wikimedia Commons