View source for Lev Landau

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{{Short description|Soviet theoretical physicist (1908–1968)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Lev Landau
| native_name       = {{nobold|Лев Ландау}}
| native_name_lang  = ru
| image             = Landau.jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Landau in 1962
| birth_name        = Lev Davidovich Landau
| birth_date        = {{nobreak| {{birth date|df=yes|1908|1|22}} }}
| birth_place       = [[Baku]], [[Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)|Caucasus Viceroyalty]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date        = {{nobreak| {{death date and age|df=yes|1968|4|1|1908|1|22}} }}
| death_place       = [[Moscow]], [[Soviet Union]]
| resting_place     = [[Novodevichy Cemetery]], Moscow
| fields            = [[Theoretical physics]]
| workplaces        = [[Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute]] and [[Kharkiv University]] <small>(later [[Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology]])</small><br/>[[Institute for Physical Problems]] ([[Russian Academy of Sciences|RAS]])<br/>[[MSU Faculty of Physics]]
| education         = Baku Economical Technical School
| alma_mater        = [[Baku State University]]<br/>[[Saint Petersburg State University|Leningrad State University]] ([[diploma]], 1927)<br/>[[Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute|Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute]] ([[D.Sc.]], 1934)
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| academic_advisors = [[Niels Bohr]]
| doctoral_students = {{nowrap|[[Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov]]}}<br/>[[Aleksandr Akhiezer|Aleksandr Ilyich Akhiezer]]<br/>[[Igor Ekhielevich Dzyaloshinskii]]<br/>[[Lev Gor'kov]]<br/>[[Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov]]<br/>[[Lev Pitaevskii|Lev Petrovich Pitaevskii]]
| notable_students  = [[Evgeny Lifshitz]]
| known_for         = {{Collapsible list|[[Landau damping]]|[[Landau distribution]]|[[Landau gauge]]|[[Landau pole]]|[[Diamagnetism|Landau susceptibility]]|[[Landau free energy]]|[[Landau levels]]|[[Fermi liquid theory|Landau's Fermi liquid theory]]|[[Landau theory|Landau's phase transition theory]]|[[Stuart–Landau equation]]|[[Ginzburg–Landau theory]]|[[Darrieus–Landau instability]]|[[Landau kinetic equation]]|[[Landau–Peierls instability]]|Landau singularities|[[Landau–Raychaudhuri equation]]|[[Landau–Zener formula]]|[[Landau–Squire jet]]|[[Landau–Levich problem]]|Landau–Pekar equations|Landau–Teller model|[[Molecular diffusion#Non-equilibrium system|Landau–Lifshitz fluctuating hydrodynamics]]|[[Landau–Lifshitz model]]|[[Landau–Lifshitz pseudotensor]]|[[Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation]]|[[Landau–Pomeranchuk–Migdal effect]]|[[Abraham–Lorentz force#Landau–Lifshitz radiation damping force|Landau–Lifshitz force]]|[[Guderley–Landau–Stanyukovich problem]]|[[Landau–Placzek ratio]]|[[Landau–Yang theorem]]|[[Landau derivative]]|[[Ivanenko–Landau–Kähler equation]]|[[Aeroacoustics#Landau–Lifshitz aeroacoustic equation|Landau–Lifshitz aeroacoustic equation]]|[[Landau principle]]|[[Landau–Hopf theory of turbulence]]|[[Density matrix]]|[[DLVO theory]]|[[Open quantum system]]|[[Polaron]]|[[Roton]]|[[Superfluidity]]|[[Superconductivity]]|''[[Course of Theoretical Physics]]''|[[Quantum hydrodynamics]]|[[Quasiparticle|Quasiparticle theory]]|[[Zero sound]]|[[Second sound]]|[[Antiferromagnetism]]|[[Two-fluid model]]}}
| awards            = [[State Stalin Prize|Stalin Prize]] (1946) <br/> [[Max Planck Medal]] (1960)<br/> [[Fritz London Memorial Prize]] (1960)<br/> [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1962)
| spouse            = K. T. Drobanzeva (married 1937; 1 child) (1908–1984)
}}

'''Lev Davidovich Landau''' ({{langx|ru|Лев Дави́дович Ланда́у}}; 22 January 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet [[physicist]] who made fundamental contributions to many areas of [[theoretical physics]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=McCauley |first1=Martin |author1-link=Martin McCauley (historian) |title=Who's Who in Russia Since 1900 |date=1997 |publisher=Routledge |page=128 |quote=Landau, Lev Davydovich (1908-68), a brilliant Soviet theoretical physicist, who was born into a Jewish family in Baku and graduated from Leningrad State University in 1927.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Zubok |first1=Vladislav |authorlink=Vladislav Zubok|editor1-last=Bozo |editor1-first=Frédéric |editor-link1=Frédéric Bozo|editor2-last=Rey |editor2-first=Marie-Pierre |editor3-last=Rother |editor3-first=Bernd |editor4-last=Ludlow |editor4-first=N. Piers |title=Visions of the End of the Cold War in Europe, 1945-1990 |date=2012 |publisher=Berghahn Books |page=78 |chapter=Soviet Intellectuals after Stalin's Death and Their Visions of the Cold War's End}}</ref><ref name="ScientificAmerican1997" /> He was considered as one of the last scientists who were universally well-versed and made seminal contributions to all branches of physics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smilga |first=Andrei V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ehEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA250 |title=Digestible Quantum Field Theory |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-59922-9 |location=Cham |pages=250 |language=en}}</ref> He is credited with laying the foundations of twentieth century [[condensed matter physics]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gorelik |first=Gennady |date=1997 |title=The Top-Secret Life of Lev Landau |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24995874 |journal=Scientific American |volume=277 |issue=2 |pages=72–77 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0897-72 |jstor=24995874 |bibcode=1997SciAm.277b..72G |issn=0036-8733|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and is also considered arguably the greatest Soviet theoretical physicist.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ryndina |first=Ella |date=2004-02-01 |title=Family Lines Sketched in the Portrait of Lev Landau |url=https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/57/2/53/931789/Family-Lines-Sketched-in-the-Portrait-of-Lev |journal=Physics Today |language=en |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=53–59 |doi=10.1063/1.1688070 |bibcode=2004PhT....57b..53R |issn=0031-9228|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

His accomplishments include the independent co-discovery of the [[density matrix]] method<ref>{{cite journal | author=Lev Landau  |title=Das Dämpfungsproblem in der Wellenmechanik (The Damping Problem in Wave Mechanics)| journal=Zeitschrift für Physik | volume=45 | issue=5&ndash;6 |pages=430&ndash;441 | year=1927 |doi=10.1007/bf01343064 |bibcode = 1927ZPhy...45..430L |s2cid=125732617}} English translation reprinted in: {{cite book | editor=D. Ter Haar | title=Collected papers of L.D. Landau | location=Oxford | publisher=Pergamon Press | year=1965 }}</ref><ref name="PT">{{cite journal | url=http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v35/i2/p36_s1 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415142204/http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v35/i2/p36_s1 | url-status=dead | archive-date=2013-04-15 | title=Density functional theory | author1=Schlüter, Michael | author2=Lu Jeu Sham | journal=Physics Today | year=1982 | volume=35 | issue=2 | page=36 | doi=10.1063/1.2914933 | bibcode=1982PhT....35b..36S | s2cid=126232754 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> in [[quantum mechanics]] (alongside [[John von Neumann]]), the quantum mechanical theory of [[diamagnetism]], the theory of [[superfluidity]], the theory of [[Landau theory|second-order phase transition]]s, invention of [[order parameter]] technique,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fisher |first=Michael E. |date=1998-04-01 |title=Renormalization group theory: Its basis and formulation in statistical physics |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.70.653 |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=653–681 |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.70.653|bibcode=1998RvMP...70..653F |url-access=subscription }}</ref> the [[Ginzburg–Landau theory]] of [[superconductivity]], the theory of [[Fermi liquid]]s, the explanation of [[Landau damping]] in [[plasma physics]], the [[Landau pole]] in [[quantum electrodynamics]], the two-component theory of [[neutrino]]s, and Landau's equations for [[S-matrix|''S''-matrix]] singularities.<ref>{{cite book | editor-first=M. | editor-last=Shifman | title=Under the Spell of Landau: When Theoretical Physics was Shaping Destinies | publisher=World Scientific | year=2013 | isbn=978-981-4436-56-4 | doi=10.1142/8641 }}</ref> 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|liquid]] [[helium II]] at a temperature below {{val|2.17|ul=K}} ({{val|-270.98|ul=degC}}).<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Kapitza | first1 = P. L. | last2 = Lifshitz | first2 = E. M. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1969.0007 | title = Lev Davydovitch Landau 1908–1968 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 15 | pages = 140–158 | year = 1969 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

==Life==

===Early years===
[[File:Landau1910.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Landau family in 1910]]
[[File:Rundyna5.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Young Landau in 1914]]
Landau was born on 22 January 1908 to [[Jews|Jewish]] parents<ref name="frs"/><ref>[[Martin Gilbert]], ''The Jews in the Twentieth Century: An Illustrated History'', Schocken Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0805241906}} p. 284</ref><ref>''Frontiers of physics: proceedings of the Landau Memorial Conference'', Tel Aviv, Israel, 6–10 June 1988, (Pergamon Press, 1990) {{ISBN|0080369391}}, pp. 13–14</ref><ref>Edward Teller, ''Memoirs: A Twentieth Century Journey In Science And Politics'', Basic Books 2002, {{ISBN|0738207780}} p. 124</ref> in [[Baku]], the [[Russian Empire]], in what is now [[Azerbaijan]]. Landau's father, David Lvovich Landau, was an engineer with the local oil industry, and his mother, Lyubov Veniaminovna Garkavi-Landau, was a doctor. Both came to Baku from [[Mogilev]] and both graduated the Mogilev gymnasium.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/Great-Baku-native-Lev-Landau.html|title=Great Baku native Lev Landau|website=Vestnik Kavkaza|access-date=22 January 2019|archive-date=10 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610020427/http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/Great-Baku-native-Lev-Landau.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Выпускники Могилевской гимназии |url=http://www.petergen.com/history/moggim.shtml |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=www.petergen.com}}</ref> He learned [[differential calculus]] at age 12 and [[integral calculus]] at age 13. Landau graduated in 1920 at age 13 from [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]]. His parents considered him too young to attend university, so for a year he attended the Baku Economical Technical School. In 1922, at age 14, he [[matriculation|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 [[Saint Petersburg State University|Leningrad State University]], where he dedicated himself to the study of theoretical physics, graduating in 1927. Landau subsequently enrolled for post-graduate studies at the [[Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute|Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute]] where he eventually received a doctorate in Physical and Mathematical Sciences in 1934.<ref>František Janouch, ''Lev Landau: A Portrait of a Theoretical Physicist, 1908–1988'', Research Institute for Physics, 1988, p. 17.</ref> 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.<ref>[[Yuriy Rumer|Rumer, Yuriy]]. [http://www.berkovich-zametki.com/AStarina/Nomer7/Rumer1.htm ЛАНДАУ]. berkovich-zametki.com</ref> He later improved his English and learned Danish.<ref name=bes>[[:ru:Бессараб, Майя Яковлевна|Bessarab, Maya]] (1971) [http://www.ega-math.narod.ru/Landau/Dau1971.htm Страницы жизни Ландау]. ''[[:ru:Московский рабочий|Московский рабочий]]''. Moscow</ref>

After brief stays in [[Göttingen]] and [[Leipzig]], he went to [[Copenhagen]] on 8 April 1930 to work at the [[Niels Bohr Institute|Niels Bohr's Institute for Theoretical Physics]]. He stayed there until 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 [[Paul Dirac]],<ref name="Mehra"/> Copenhagen (September to November 1930),<ref>During this period Landau visitied Copenhagen three times: 8 April to 3 May 1930, from 20 September to 22 November 1930, and from 25 February to 19 March 1931 (see [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Landau_Lev.html Landau Lev biography – MacTutor History of Mathematics]).</ref> and [[Zürich]] (December 1930 to January 1931), where he worked with [[Wolfgang Pauli]].<ref name="Mehra">[[Jagdish Mehra|Mehra, Jagdish]] (2001) ''The Golden Age of Theoretical Physics'', Boxed Set of 2 Volumes, World Scientific, p. 952. {{ISBN|9810243421}}.</ref> From Zürich Landau went back to Copenhagen for the third time<ref>Sykes, J. B. (2013) ''Landau: The Physicist and the Man: Recollections of L. D. Landau'', Elsevier, p. 81. {{ISBN|9781483286884}}.</ref> and stayed there from 25 February until 19 March 1931 before returning to Leningrad the same year.<ref>Haensel, P.; Potekhin, A. Y. and Yakovlev, D. G. (2007) ''Neutron Stars 1: Equation of State and Structure'', Springer Science & Business Media, p. 2. {{ISBN|0387335439}}.</ref>

===National Scientific Center Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, Kharkiv===
Between 1932 and 1937, Landau headed the Department of Theoretical Physics at the National Scientific Center [[Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology]], and he lectured at the [[University of Kharkiv]] and the [[Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute]]. Apart from his theoretical accomplishments, Landau was the principal founder of a great tradition of theoretical physics in [[Kharkiv]], Ukraine, sometimes referred to as the "Landau school". In Kharkiv, 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 school|graduate]]-level physics texts. During the [[Great Purge]], Landau was investigated within the [[UPTI Affair]] in Kharkiv, but he managed to leave for [[Moscow]] to take up a new post.<ref name=ScientificAmerican1997/>

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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Blundell, Stephen J.|title=Superconductivity: A Very Short Introduction|year=2009|publisher=Oxford U. Press|page=67|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxUWMrm4dxsC&pg=PA67|isbn=9780191579097}}</ref><ref>{{cite arXiv | last=Ioffe | first=B. L. | title=Landau's Theoretical Minimum, Landau's Seminar, ITEP in the Beginning of the 1950's | date=2002 | eprint=hep-ph/0204295 }}</ref>

In 1932, Landau computed the [[Chandrasekhar limit]];<ref>On the Theory of Stars, in ''Collected Papers of L. D. Landau'', ed. and with an introduction by [[D. ter Haar]], New York: Gordon and Breach, 1965; originally published in ''Phys. Z. Sowjet.'' '''1''' (1932), 285.</ref> however, he did not apply it to white dwarf stars.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Yakovlev|first1=Dmitrii|last2=Haensel|first2=Pawel|date=2013|title=Lev Landau and the concept of neutron stars |journal=Physics-Uspekhi |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=289–295|doi=10.3367/UFNe.0183.201303f.0307 |arxiv=1210.0682 |bibcode=2013PhyU...56..289Y|s2cid=119282067}}</ref>

===Institute for Physical Problems, Moscow===
[[File:ХФТИ.jpg|thumb|right|At the Kharkiv Institute, 1934|alt=]]
[[File:1938-LandauL.jpg|thumb|left|Photo in prison, 1938-1939|alt=]]
From 1937 until 1962, Landau was the head of the Theoretical Division at the [[Institute for Physical Problems]].<ref name=Dorozynsk/>

On 27 April 1938, Landau was arrested for the possession of a [[Korets–Landau leaflet|leaflet]] which compared [[Stalinism]] to [[Nazism|German Nazism]] and [[Italian fascism|Italian Fascism]].<ref name=ScientificAmerican1997>{{cite journal |title= The Top-Secret Life of Lev Landau |issue= 2 |pages= 72–77 |url= https://www.scientificamerican.com/magazine/sa/1997/08-01/ |url-access= subscription |last= Gorelik |first= Gennady |author-link= Gennady Gorelik |date= August 1997 |journal= [[Scientific American]] |volume= 277 |access-date= 2018-06-18 |jstor= 24995874 |doi= 10.1038/scientificamerican0897-72 |bibcode= 1997SciAm.277b..72G |archive-date= 18 June 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180618075613/https://www.scientificamerican.com/magazine/sa/1997/08-01/ |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.kapitza.ras.ru/museum/history.htm Музей-кабинет Петра Леонидовича Капицы (Peter Kapitza Memorial Museum-Study)], ''Академик Капица: Биографический очерк (a biographical sketch of Academician Kapitza)''.</ref> He was held in the [[NKVD]]'s [[Lubyanka Building|Lubyanka prison]] until his release, on 29 April 1939, after [[Pyotr Kapitsa]] (an [[experimental physics|experimental]] low-temperature physicist and the founder and head of the institute) and Bohr wrote letters to [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref>O'Connor, 2014</ref><ref>Yakovlev, 2012</ref> Kapitsa personally vouched for Landau's behaviour and threatened to quit the institute if Landau was not released.<ref>[[Richard Rhodes]], [http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=TRADE%20PAPER:USED:9780684824147:9.50&page=excerpt ''Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb''], pub Simon & Schuster, 1995, {{ISBN|0684824140}} p. 33.</ref> After his release, Landau discovered how to explain Kapitsa's superfluidity using sound waves, or [[phonon]]s, and a new excitation called a [[roton]].<ref name=ScientificAmerican1997/>

Landau led a team of mathematicians supporting Soviet atomic and hydrogen bomb development. He calculated the dynamics of the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb, including predicting the [[Nuclear weapon yield|yield]]. For this work Landau received the [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]] in 1949 and 1953, and was awarded the title "[[Hero of Socialist Labour]]" in 1954.<ref name=ScientificAmerican1997/>

Landau's students included [[Lev Pitaevskii]], [[Alexei Abrikosov (physicist)|Alexei Abrikosov]], [[Aleksandr Akhiezer]], [[Igor Dzyaloshinskii]], [[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 [[Phase transition|second-order phase transitions]], the [[Ginzburg–Landau theory]] of superconductivity, the theory of [[Fermi liquid theory|Fermi liquids]], the explanation of [[Landau damping]] in plasma physics, the [[Landau pole]] in quantum electrodynamics, the [[two-component theory of neutrinos]], the explanation of flame instability (the [[Darrieus-Landau instability]]), and [[Landau's equations for S matrix singularities]].

Landau 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&nbsp;°C)."<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.2408530|title=Lev Davidovich Landau, Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate|journal=Physics Today|volume=57|issue=2|pages=62|year=2004|bibcode=2004PhT....57Q..62.}}</ref>

===Personal life and views===
In 1937, Landau married Kora T. Drobanzeva from Kharkiv.<ref name=y>[[Petr Leonidovich Kapitsa]], ''Experiment, Theory, Practice: Articles and Addresses'', Springer, 1980, {{ISBN|9027710619}}, p. 329.</ref> Their son Igor (1946–2011) became a theoretical physicist. Lev Landau believed in "[[free love]]" rather than monogamy and encouraged his wife and his students to practise "free love". However, his wife was not enthusiastic.<ref name=ScientificAmerican1997/>

Landau is generally described as an atheist,<ref>{{cite book |author=Schaefer, Henry F. |author-link=Henry F. Schaefer III |title=Science and Christianity: Conflict Or Coherence? |publisher=The Apollos Trust |year=2003 |isbn=9780974297507 |page=9 |quote=I present here two examples of notable atheists. The first is Lev Landau, the most brilliant Soviet physicist of the twentieth century.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=James D. Patterson |title=Solid-State Physics: Introduction to the Theory |author2=Bernard C. Bailey |date=20 February 2019 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783319753225 |location=Lev Landau - The Soviet Grand Master |page=190 |quote=Landau’s theoretical minimum exam was famous and only about forty students passed it in his time. This was Landau’s entry-level exam for theoretical physics. It contained what Landau felt was necessary to work in that field. Like many Soviet era physicists he was an atheist.}}</ref> although when Soviet filmmaker [[Andrei Tarkovsky]] asked Landau whether he believed in the existence of God, Landau pondered the matter in silence for three minutes before responding, "I think so."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tarkovsky |first=Andrei |author-link=Andrei Tarkovsky |title=Sculpting in Time: The Great Russian Filmmaker Discusses His Art |title-link=Sculpting in Time |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-292-77624-1 |pages=229 |language=en |translator-last=Hunter-Blair |translator-first=Kitty}}</ref> In 1957, a lengthy report to the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU Central Committee]] by the KGB recorded Landau's views on the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|1956 Hungarian Uprising]], [[Vladimir Lenin]] and what he termed "red fascism".<ref>[http://bukovsky-archives.net/pdfs/sovter74/land-17.pdf 19 December 1957* (no number)]. The Bukovsky Archives.</ref> [[Hendrik Casimir]] recalls him as a passionate communist, emboldened by his revolutionary ideology. Landau's drive in establishing Soviet science was in part due to his devotion to socialism. In 1935 he published a piece titled “Bourgeoisie and Contemporary Physics” in the Soviet newspaper ''[[Izvestia]]'' in which he criticized religious superstition and the dominance of capital, which he saw as bourgeois tendencies, citing “unprecedented opportunities for the development of physics in our country, provided by the Party and the government.”<ref name="ScientificAmerican1997" />

===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,<ref name=Dorozynsk>{{cite book |author=Dorozynsk, Alexander|year=1965|title=The Man They Wouldn't Let Die}}</ref> and he never returned fully to scientific work. His injuries prevented him from accepting the 1962 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in person.<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1962/press.html Nobel Presentation speech by Professor I. Waller, member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences]. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved on 28 January 2012.</ref>

Throughout his life Landau was known for his sharp humour, as illustrated by the following dialogue with a psychologist, [[Alexander Luria]], who tried to test for possible brain damage while Landau was recovering from the car crash:<ref name=bes/><ref name="Drobantseva_Luria">[https://biography.wikireading.ru/60550 Kora Drobantseva's memoirs], Chapter 38, "The way we lived"; the episode with [[Alexander Luria]] (in the original Russian text, referred to as ''Лурье'') testing Lev Landau on intellectual abilities</ref>
:Luria: "Please draw me a circle"
:Landau draws a cross
:Luria: "Hm, now draw me a cross"
:Landau draws a circle
:Luria: "Landau, why don't you do what I ask?"
:Landau: "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 Khalatnikov]].

In June 1965, Lev Landau and [[Evsei Liberman]] published a letter in the ''New York Times'', stating that as [[History of the Jews in the Soviet Union|Soviet Jews]] they opposed U.S. intervention on behalf of the [[Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry]].<ref>Yaacov Ro'i, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vvfIq0aJ_1oC&pg=PA199 ''The Struggle for Soviet Jewish Emigration, 1948–1967''], Cambridge University Press 2003, {{ISBN|0521522447}} p. 199</ref> However, there are doubts that Landau authored this letter.<ref>[http://booknik.ru/yesterday/history-of-protest/esli-nujen-vor-ego-i-s-viselitsy-snimayut/ «Если нужен вор, его и с виселицы снимают»]</ref>

===Death===
Landau died on 1 April 1968, aged 60, from complications of the injuries sustained in the car accident six years earlier. He was buried at the [[Novodevichy Cemetery]].<ref>[http://novodevichye.com/landau/ Obelisk at the Novodevichye Cemetery]. novodevichye.com (26 October 2008). Retrieved on 28 January 2012.</ref>

== Fields of contribution ==

{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
*[[DLVO theory]]
*[[Fermi liquid theory]]
*[[Quasiparticle]]
*[[Ivanenko–Landau–Kähler equation]]
*[[Landau damping]] 
*[[Landau distribution]] 
*[[Landau gauge]] 
*[[Landau kinetic equation]]
*[[Landau pole]] 
*[[Diamagnetism|Landau susceptibility]]
*[[Landau potential]]
*[[Landau quantization]]
*[[Landau theory]]
*[[Landau–Squire jet]]
*[[Landau–Levich problem]]
*[[Landau–Hopf theory of turbulence]]
*[[Ginzburg–Landau theory]]
*[[Darrieus–Landau instability]]
*[[Aeroacoustics|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]]
*[[Landau principle]]
*[[Stuart–Landau equation]]
*[[Superfluidity]]
*[[Superconductivity]]
{{div col end}}

===Pedagogy===
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
*''[[Course of Theoretical Physics]]''
{{div col end}}

==Legacy==
[[File:RR5110-0083R.png|thumb|upright|A commemorative Russian silver coin dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Landau's birth]]
[[File:2008. Марка России stamp hi12735121754be840efc8511.jpg|thumb|Landau on a 2008 Russian stamp]]
[[File:UA035-10.jpg|thumb|upright|Landau in 1962<ref name=bes/> on a 2010 Ukrainian stamp]]
Two celestial objects are named in his honour:
*the [[minor planet]] [[2142 Landau]].<ref>
{{cite book
| author = Schmadel, Lutz D. 
| year = 2003
| title = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
| edition = 5th
| page = 174
| publisher = [[Springer Verlag]]
| isbn = 3-540-00238-3
}}</ref>
*the [[Lunar craters|lunar crater]] [[Landau (crater)|Landau]].
The highest prize in theoretical physics awarded by the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] is named in his honour:
*[[Landau Gold Medal]]

On 22 January 2019, [[Google]] celebrated what would have been Landau's 111th birthday with a [[Google Doodle]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/who-lev-landau-google-doodle-13887780|title=Google Doodle celebrates 111th birthday of theoretical physicist Lev Landau|last=Best|first=Shivali|date=2019-01-22|website=mirror|access-date=2019-01-22}}</ref>

The Landau-Spitzer Award (American Physical Society), which recognizes outstanding contributions to plasma physics and European-United States collaboration, is named in-part in his honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/landau-spitzer.cfm|title=Landau-Spitzer Award|website=APS.org|publisher=[[American Physical Society]]}}</ref>

==Landau's ranking of physicists==

Landau kept a list of names of [[physicist]]s which he ranked on a logarithmic scale of productivity and [[genius]], such as [[creativity]] and innate [[Aptitude|talent]], ranging from 0 to 5.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Elkhonon |author-link=Elkhonon Goldberg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rr9EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |title=Creativity: The Human Brain in the Age of Innovation |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-046649-7 |location=New York, NY |pages=166 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Jichao |last2=Yin |first2=Yian |last3=Fortunato |first3=Santo |last4=Wang |first4=Dashun |title=Nobel laureates are almost the same as us |journal=Nature Reviews Physics |date=18 April 2019 |volume=1 |issue=5 |pages=301–303 |doi=10.1038/s42254-019-0057-z |bibcode=2019NatRP...1..301L |url=https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10113092 |access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Alter |first=Adam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yI4CEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA214 |title=Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most |date=2023 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-9821-8296-0 |location=New York |pages=214 |language=en}}</ref> 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]], [[Satyendra Nath Bose]], [[Paul Dirac]] and [[Erwin Schrödinger]], and others, while members of rank of 5 were deemed "pathologists".<ref>{{cite book | url = http://sgtnd.narod.ru/wts/rus/Landau.htm | author = Anna Livanova | title = Ландау | trans-title = Landau | language = ru | year = 1983 | publisher = Znanie | edition = 2nd expanded | accessdate = 1 August 2022}}</ref> Landau ranked himself as a 2.5 but later promoted to a 2. [[N. 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".<ref>{{cite book | author = N. David Mermin | title = Boojums All the Way Through: Communicating Science in a Prosaic Age | page = 39 | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 1990 | isbn = 9780521388801}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mitra |first=Asoke |date=2006-11-01 |title=New Einsteins need positive environment, independent spirit |url=https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/59/11/12/395831/New-Einsteins-need-positive-environment |journal=Physics Today |language=en |volume=59 |issue=11 |pages=12 |doi=10.1063/1.4797321 |bibcode=2006PhT....59k..12M |issn=0031-9228|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Landau had a lesser known scale to measure the genius of a scientist using diagrams instead. He had four classes of diagrams, with the first being a simple triangle, which included those who were the most original and brilliant, such as Dirac and Einstein. The diagrams were formed by two parallel lines, bottom representing tenacity, while the top measured genius and originality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mussardo |first=Giuseppe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nGcHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA115 |title=The ABC's of Science |date=2020 |publisher=Springer International Publishing AG |isbn=978-3-030-55168-1 |location=Cham |pages=115–117}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
* Another film about Landau, ''[[Dau (film)|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.<ref name=dau>[http://orange.strf.ru/client/news.aspx?ob_no=7074 Дао Ландау] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007183002/http://orange.strf.ru/client/news.aspx?ob_no=7074 |date=7 October 2015 }}. strf.ru (25 January 2008)</ref> The film was part of the multidisciplinary art project ''[[DAU (project)|DAU]]''.<ref>[https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/dau-ilya-khrzhanovsky-report-and-first-look Dau: a never-ending experiment in a Soviet laboratory]</ref><ref>[https://www.russianartandculture.com/dau-film-review-2/ DAU: Strange, Repellent, Mesmerising, Addictive]</ref>

==Works==

Landau wrote his first paper ''[[:s:On the derivation of Klein–Fock equation|On the derivation of Klein–Fock equation]]'', co-authored with [[Dmitri Ivanenko]] in 1926, when he was 18 years old. His last paper titled ''Fundamental problems'' appeared in 1960 in an edited version of tributes to [[Wolfgang Pauli]]. A complete list of Landau's works appeared in 1998 in the Russian journal ''Physics-Uspekhi''.<ref>{{cite journal| title=Complete list of L D Landau's works |journal=Phys. Usp. |volume=41 |issue=6 |pages=621–623 |date=June 1998 |url=http://ufn.ru/en/articles/1998/6/k/references.html |doi=10.1070/PU1998v041n06ABEH000413|bibcode = 1998PhyU...41..621.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Landau would allow himself to be listed 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.<ref name="dau"/>

===''Course of Theoretical Physics''===
{{Main|Course of Theoretical Physics}}
*{{cite book |author=L. D. Landau, [[Evgeny Lifshitz|E. M. Lifshitz]] |year=1976 |title=Mechanics |edition=3rd |volume=1 |publisher=Butterworth–Heinemann |isbn=978-0-7506-2896-9}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau |author2=E. M. Lifshitz |year=1975
 |title=The Classical Theory of Fields
 |edition=4th |volume=2
 |publisher=Butterworth–Heinemann
 |isbn=978-0-7506-2768-9
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau |author2=E. M. Lifshitz |year=1977
 |title=Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory
 |edition=3rd |volume=3
 |publisher=Pergamon Press
 |isbn=978-0-08-020940-1
}} — [https://archive.org/download/QuantumMechanics_104/LandauLifshitz-QuantumMechanics_text.pdf 2nd ed. (1965)] at [[archive.org]]
*{{cite book
 |author1=V. B. Berestetskii
 |author2=E. M. Lifshitz
 |author3-link=Lev Pitaevskii
 |author3=L. P. Pitaevskii
 |year=1982
 |title=Quantum Electrodynamics
 |edition=2nd |volume=4
 |publisher=Butterworth–Heinemann
 |isbn=978-0-7506-3371-0
 }}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau |author2=E. M. Lifshitz |year=1980
 |title=Statistical Physics, Part 1
 |edition=3rd |volume=5
 |publisher=Butterworth–Heinemann
 |isbn=978-0-7506-3372-7
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau |author2=E. M. Lifshitz |year=1987
 |title=Fluid Mechanics
 |edition=2nd |volume=6
 |publisher=Butterworth–Heinemann
 |isbn=978-0-08-033933-7
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau |author2=E. M. Lifshitz |year=1986
 |title=Theory of Elasticity
 |edition=3rd |volume=7
 |publisher=Butterworth–Heinemann
 |isbn=978-0-7506-2633-0
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau |author2=E. M. Lifshitz |author3=L. P. Pitaevskii |year=1984
 |title=Electrodynamics of Continuous Media
 |edition=2nd |volume=8
 |publisher=Butterworth–Heinemann
 |isbn=978-0-7506-2634-7
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. P. Pitaevskii |author2=E. M. Lifshitz |year=1980
 |title=Statistical Physics, Part 2
 |edition=1st |volume=9
 |publisher=Butterworth–Heinemann
 |isbn=978-0-7506-2636-1
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. P. Pitaevskii |author2=E. M. Lifshitz |year=1981
 |title=Physical Kinetics
 |edition=1st |volume=10
 |publisher=Pergamon Press
 |isbn=978-0-7506-2635-4
}}

Landau and Lifshitz suggested in the third volume of the ''Course of Theoretical Physics'' that the then-standard periodic table had a mistake in it, and that [[lutetium]] should be regarded as a d-block rather than an f-block element. Their suggestion was fully vindicated by later findings,<ref name="Wittig">{{cite book |last=Wittig |first=Jörg |editor=H. J. Queisser |date=1973 |title=Festkörper Probleme: Plenary Lectures of the Divisions Semiconductor Physics, Surface Physics, Low Temperature Physics, High Polymers, Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, of the German Physical Society, Münster, March 19–24, 1973 |chapter=The pressure variable in solid state physics: What about 4f-band superconductors? |series=Advances in Solid State Physics |volume=13 |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer |pages=375–396 |isbn=978-3-528-08019-8 |doi=10.1007/BFb0108579}}</ref><ref name=Matthias>{{cite book |last=Matthias |first=B. T. |date=1969 |editor-last=Wallace |editor-first=P. R. |title=Superconductivity |publisher=Gordon and Breach |pages=225–294 <!--precise quote calling it a mistake is on pp. 247–9--> |chapter=Systematics of Super Conductivity |isbn=9780677138107 |volume=1}}</ref><ref name="Jensen1982">{{cite journal |title=The Positions of Lanthanum (Actinium) and Lutetium (Lawrencium) in the Periodic Table |author=William B. Jensen |journal=J. Chem. Educ. |year=1982 |volume=59 |issue = 8|pages=634–636 |doi=10.1021/ed059p634|bibcode=1982JChEd..59..634J }}</ref><ref>[[Eric Scerri|Scerri, Eric R]] (2020). ''The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance'', 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, New York, {{ISBN|978-0190914363}}</ref> and in 1988 was endorsed by a report of the [[International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry]] (IUPAC).<ref name="Fluck">{{cite journal |last1=Fluck |first1=E. |year=1988 |title=New Notations in the Periodic Table |journal=[[Pure and Applied Chemistry|Pure Appl. Chem.]] |volume=60 |pages=431–436|doi=10.1351/pac198860030431 |url=https://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1988/pdf/6003x0431.pdf |access-date=24 March 2012 |issue=3 |s2cid=96704008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325152951/https://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1988/pdf/6003x0431.pdf |archive-date=25 March 2012}}</ref>

===Other===
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau |author2=A. S. Kompaneets|author-link2=Alexander Solomonovich Kompaneyets
 |orig-year=1935
 |year=1965
 |title=The electrical conductivity of metals
 |chapter=Appendix A |pages=803–832 |publisher=ONTI, Kharkiv
 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-010586-4.50106-1 |isbn=9780080105864 |chapter-url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080105864501061
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau
 |author2=Ya. Smorodinsky
 |orig-year=1958
 |year=2011
 |title=Lectures on Nuclear Theory
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QrgACAAAQBAJ
 |publisher=Dover Publications
 |isbn= 978-0486675138
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau |author2=G. B. Rumer |orig-year=1960|year=2003
 |title=What is Relativity?
 |publisher=Dover Publications
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PATCAgAAQBAJ
 |isbn=978-0-48-616348-2
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau
 |author2-link=Aleksander Akhiezer
 |author2=A. I. Akhiezer
 |author3=E. M. Lifshitz
 |year=1967
 |title=General Physics, Mechanics and Molecular Physics
 |url=https://archive.org/details/generalphysicsme0000land
 |url-access=registration
 |publisher=[[Pergamon Press]]
 |isbn= 978-0-08-009106-8
}}
*{{cite book
 |author1=L. D. Landau |author2=A. I. Kitaigorodsky |year=1978
 |title=Physics for Everyone
 |url=https://archive.org/details/PhysicsForEveryone-Book1-PhysicalBodies |publisher=Mir Publishers Moscow
}} in 4 volumes: volume 1 ''Physical bodies'' {{isbn|978-0-82-851716-4}}; volume 2 ''Molecules'' {{isbn|978-0-82-851725-6}}; volume 3 ''Electrons'' and volume 4 ''Photons and nuclei''; vols. 3 & 4 by Kitaigorodsky alone

==See also==
* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]
* [[List of things named after Lev Landau]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
;Books
*{{cite book
 |last=Dorozynski |first=Alexander
 |year=1965
 |title=The Man They Wouldn't Let Die
 |publisher=[[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.)
*{{cite book
 |last=Janouch |first=Frantisek
 |year=1979
 |title=Lev D. Landau: His life and work
 |publisher=[[CERN]]
 |asin=B0007AUCL0
}}
*{{cite book
 |editor=Khalatnikov, I. M.
 |year=1989
 |title=Landau. The physicist and the man. Recollections of L. D. Landau
 |publisher=[[Pergamon Press]]
 |isbn=0-08-036383-0
 |others=Sykes, J. B. (trans.)
}}
*{{cite book
 |last=Kojevnikov |first=Alexei B.
 |year=2004
 |title=Stalin's Great Science: The Times and Adventures of Soviet Physicists
 |series=History of Modern Physical Sciences
 |publisher=[[Imperial College Press]]
 |isbn=1-86094-420-5
}}
*{{cite book
 |last        = Landau-Drobantseva
 |first       = Kora
 |year        = 1999
 |title       = Professor Landau: How We Lived
 |url         = http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/LANDAU/landau.txt
 |publisher   = [[AST (publisher)|AST]]
 |isbn        = 5-8159-0019-2
 |language    = ru
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20050504045057/http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/LANDAU/landau.txt
 |archive-date = 4 May 2005
 |df          = dmy-all
}}
*{{cite book
 | last=Livanova
 | first=Anna
 | title=Landau: A Great Physicist and Teacher
 | publisher=Pergamon
 | publication-place=Burlington
 | date=1980
 | isbn=978-0-08-023076-4
}}
*{{cite book
 | editor-first=M.
 | editor-last=Shifman
 | year=2013 
 | title=Under the Spell of Landau: When Theoretical Physics was Shaping Destinies
 | publisher=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.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131109195944/http://www.en.globaltalentnews.com/current_news/reports/3609/As-a-student-Landau-dared-to-correct-Einstein-in-a-lecture.html "As a student, Landau dared to correct Einstein in a lecture". Global Talent News.]
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Landau_Lev}}
* [http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/lev_davidovich_landau.html Lev Davidovich Landau. Nobel-Winners.]
* [https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0204295v1 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''.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081205002835/http://www.ejtp.info/landau.html  EJTP Landau Issue 2008.]
* Ammar Sakaji and [[Ignazio Licata]] (eds), [https://web.archive.org/web/20110717205824/https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=9382 Lev Davidovich Landau and his Impact on Contemporary Theoretical Physics], [[Nova Science Publishers]], New York, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-60692-908-7}}.
* [[Gennady Gorelik]], [http://academic.evergreen.edu/z/zita/articles/History/landau.pdf "The Top Secret Life of Lev Landau"], ''Scientific American'', Aug. 1997, vol. 277(2), 53–57, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24995874 JSTOR link].
* [[Maya Bessarab]], [http://www.ega-math.narod.ru/Landau/Dau1971.htm "Landau's Life Pages(in Russian)"].

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Lev_Landau.ogg|date=2016-01-23}}
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*{{Wikiquote inline}}
* {{Nobelprize}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1951-1975}}
{{1962 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landau, Lev}}
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[[Category:Soviet Nobel laureates]]
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