Lev Davidovich Landau (14 photos). Igor landau Lev landau occupation photography
"May be the greatest triumph of human genius
is that a person can understand things that he
can no longer imagine."
***
January 22 marked the 110th anniversary of the birth of Lev Davidovich Landau - theoretical physicist,
laureate Nobel Prize, founder scientific school. His writings on theoretical physics
admired colleagues, and the ability to briefly and accurately explain any complex
the problem was admired by the students, whom he, in turn, dearly loved.
Landau was from a wealthy Baku family,
and therefore parents could allow their son to study at home and private teachers.
The family had a French governess, children were taught music, languages,
painting. Even in those very early childhood years, Leo showed himself to be smart
and an industrious boy, but all his industriousness was already
directed towards the exact sciences. Although his parents tried to make him
musician, the fate and talent of the boy decided otherwise.
Chosen Russia. Century XX. Lev Landau
Briefly but capaciously about the main milestones in the life of an academician.
Now you understand that Landau is a truly unique legendary
figure in the history of domestic and world science. They talked about him
that there were no locked doors for him in "the great edifice of 20th-century physics."
It is sad, of course, that Lev Davidovich could not avoid
fateful thirties ... the Soviet Union is preparing for war and world
revolution and makes its scientists virtually restricted to travel abroad.
For Landau, colleagues manage to make only one exception.
and ensure his participation in Niels Bohr's lecture in Copenhagen.
In 1937, at the invitation of Pyotr Kapitsa, he went to Moscow to head only
that established the Institute of Physical Problems. But instead of the problems of physics, he
will have to solve a much more serious problem - how to stay alive, once in
millstone of the NKVD. Landau, whose friends included almost all the physicists of the world,
accused of anti-Soviet agitation.
He spent a year in prison. He was tortured. He was starving. From death
he was saved by the same Kapitsa, reaching out to the highest
Kremlin offices. He was carried out of prison in his arms.
Next time, a whole brigade will save him from death.
luminaries of world medicine. In 1962, Landau fell into the most difficult
car accident. For six weeks he was between life and death.
For six weeks doctors from Canada were on duty over him,
France, Czechoslovakia, USSR. Pulled out. Although three more months
Dau (as his relatives called him) did not even recognize family members.
A severe injury did not allow him to survive the moment
greatest triumph - in 1962 he could not go to Stockholm,
to receive the Nobel Prize. The award was given to him
in Moscow as Swedish Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
He will live another 6 years, but will never return to work. Apparently
By that time, he had already chosen all the insights granted to him by God.
Let's not talk about sad things. The famous theoretical physicist, academician, creator of his own
scientific school, human weaknesses were not alien.
In relations with the fair sex, Landau was an excellent practitioner.
He is one of those who are perfectly described by the saying "from the young, but early."
In addition to the reputation of a brilliant physicist, Landau had
and a strong reputation as a womanizer. She spoke about it publicly
his wife Concordia Drobantsova, whom everyone usually called Kora.
Or rather, she didn’t tell, but described it in the book “How We Lived”.
For a long time this book existed in the form of samizdat. And many solid
Academicians tried to destroy it - they were so outraged by what was described there.
“I am the wife of the great twentieth-century physicist Lev Landau,” wrote Concordia.
- Our history is similar to the history of many families in the era of the sexual revolution.
The only difference is that Landau is a genius.
For 10 years now I have been writing about that happy and dramatic fate.
I write only the truth, the only truth, I write for myself and have no
the slightest hope that someday it will see the light of day.
Dow was a sunny person. But after his death he left
too many mysteries, mysteries. To unravel the most difficult tangle
our lives, had to get into obscene trifles, into intimate
sides of our life, hidden from prying eyes and melting so
a lot of abomination. But also charms.
According to Kora, Landau did not tolerate chaos either in science or in love.
He had his own system for classifying beauties (Scientist! Theorist!).
All women were divided into beautiful, pretty and interesting. There were two more classes:
4 - "Reprimand to parents" and 5 - "For repetition - execution."
He could throw out two or four fingers, showing the class of a woman.
In a narrow circle of acquaintances, he boasted that not a single woman
didn't leave unsatisfied. And him, who had the brightest charisma,
ladies of all ages really idolized. They say that
Landau had five brilliant novels. All of them took place in front of Cora.
- after all, in 1934, when they first met, Dau made the beauty
Koru to conclude a "non-aggression pact in married life", which,
according to his idea, gave both spouses the freedom to have novels on the side.
That's just enjoyed this freedom only he alone. And in letters to Kora he could write:
“Oh my God, I like Hera! She demands to be looked after.
And you know, Korochka, how I don't like it. It's too long!"
He did not understand what all these courtship, beautiful words, poetry?
If people are interested in each other, why waste time?
He knew his first woman quite late - at the age of 27, and it was
the same Cora. She was also there in his last hours on this earth.
In the scientific community, Landau is remembered not only as an outstanding physicist,
but also as a joker, catchphrases and jokes are associated with his name.
Classifying girls into beautiful, pretty and interesting,
he distinguished them by the structure of the nose: the pretty ones have it upturned,
for the beautiful it is straight, but for the interesting it is terribly large.
In the same way, the scientist originally classified the sciences
into natural, unnatural and unnatural.
Lev Davidovich Landau died on April 1, 1968.
Apparently, this date is not accidental for a scientist and a lover of humor.
It was the man who brought a simple formula happiness,
consisting of only three elements - work, love and communication with people.
Quotes and aphorisms by Lev Landau
The extermination of bores is the duty of every decent person.
If the bore is not furious - it's a shame for others.
Nothing new can be learned from thick books. Thick books are
a cemetery in which ideas of the past that have served their time are buried.
If I had as many worries as a woman,
I could not become a physicist.
Due to the brevity of our lives, we cannot afford
the luxury of dealing with issues that do not promise new results.
The physicist strives to make complex things simple,
and the poet - simple things - complex.
The main thing is to do everything with passion: it terribly decorates life.
I don't have a physique, I have body subtraction.
Successfully marrying is like pulling out with a knotted
snake eyes from a bag of vipers.
The less people, the more the holiday.
TV is a garbage chute that works backwards.
Bye! I went to the institute to scratch my tongue.
The product of optimism and knowledge is a constant value.
Everyone has enough strength to live life with dignity.
And all this talk about what a hard time it is
a clever way to justify your inaction, laziness and various despondency.
It is necessary to work, and there, you see, times will change.
The worst sin is being bored! Here comes the terrible
judgment, the Lord God will call and ask: “Why didn’t you use
all the blessings of life? Why did you miss?
Nothing comes from nothing.
Marriage is a cooperative, and it has nothing to do with love.
Women are worthy of admiration. For many things, but especially
for their patience. I am convinced that if men
had to give birth, humanity would quickly die out.
Beloved friends, work and wife made the great physicist Lev Landau
really happy. To date, documentaries have been filmed
and feature films about this remarkable man.
There is no longer a wife, or those who personally knew him ...
However, the business that Landau was busy with all his life,
continues to live, because there is probably no more worthy work,
bigger and more important than understanding the universe.
Lev Davidovich Landau (1908-68) - an outstanding Russian theoretical physicist, founder of the scientific school, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1946), Hero of Socialist Labor (1954). Landau's works in many areas of physics: magnetism; superfluidity and superconductivity; physics solid body, atomic nucleus And elementary particles, Plasma Physics; quantum electrodynamics; astrophysics and others. Author of the classical course in theoretical physics (together with the theoretical physicist Evgeny Mikhailovich Lifshitz). Lenin Prize (1962), USSR State Prize (1946, 1949, 1953), Nobel Prize (1962).
The childhood of the future physicist
Lev Landau was born in Baku January 9 (January 22), 1908 in an intelligent family (father is a petroleum engineer, mother is a doctor). The family had two children. Landau was friends with his sister Sophia all his life. His mathematical abilities showed up already at school, which he graduated at the age of 13. According to the theoretical physicist Yevgeny Mikhailovich Lifshitz, Landau "said that he almost did not remember being unable to differentiate and integrate."
Parents believed that at the age of 13 it was too early to go to university: Landau studied for one year at the Baku Economic College (on the day of the fun-celebrated 50th anniversary, this fact was the subject of a joke: “With Landau leaving the college, the Soviet Union lost a capable store manager”). In 1922, Lev Landau entered Baku University, where he studied for two years at the same time in two faculties: in physics and mathematics and in chemistry. After moving in 1924 to the physics department of the Leningrad University, Landau did not continue his chemical education. However, he retained his interest in chemistry for life and often amazed good knowledge chemistry (for theoretical physicists, as a rule, a somewhat arrogant neglect of chemistry is characteristic).
LFTI
Since 1926, Lev Landau was associated with the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology (now named after Abram Fedorovich Ioffe), where in 1927 after graduating from the university (at the age of 19!) he was admitted as a graduate student. “Later, he told me many times about how much he studied when he was a student. He worked so intensively that at night he began to dream of formulas. I heard from Landau many times how excited he was when he first read the works of the Austrian theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger and the German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg, who proclaimed new Age the age of quantum mechanics.
Everyone who knew Lev Landau in his youth remembers him as a sharp, self-confident young man, devoid of a priori respect for elders, perhaps overly critical in his assessments. The same traits of his character are also emphasized by those who met with Landau in later years. Trying to understand his character, of course, one must take into account the following testimony of his closest friend, student and co-author, E. M. Lifshitz: “In his youth he was very shy, and therefore it was difficult for him to communicate with other people. Then it was one of the biggest problems for him. It came to the point that at times he was in a state of extreme despair and was close to suicide ...
Lev Davidovich was characterized by extreme self-discipline, a sense of responsibility to himself. In the end, this helped him turn into a person who was completely in control of himself in any circumstances, and just a fun person. He thought a lot about how to be active.” Let us add a few words about the same thing, said by the physicist and engineer Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa: “With age, shyness disappeared, but Landau never developed the ability to adapt to society. Only the exceptional all-round talent of Landau's personality attracted people to him, and as they got closer to him, they began to love him and find great pleasure in communicating with him.
And one more thing: “the uncompromising attitude, which is characteristic of all great scientists in their scientific work, extended in Landau to human relations, but those who knew Lev Landau closely knew that behind this harshness was a very kind and sympathetic person, always ready to help the undeservedly offended.
In foreign scientific centers
An important role in Landau's scientific biography was played by trips abroad (1929–1934) and meetings with leading physicists of that time. The most significant for the formation of Landau as a scientist and teacher was a visit to Copenhagen and a stay at the Institute for Theoretical Physics with Niels Bohr. The discussion of the burning problems of theoretical physics, in which everyone present took part, the search for truth as the ultimate goal of any discussion, the atmosphere that reigned at the seminars - all this left an indelible mark on Landau's memory, served as an example to him all his life. He always considered himself a student of Bohr.
Kharkiv. grand designs
In 1932, Lev Landau headed the theoretical department of the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology (UFTI). Continuing active research work, Landau simultaneously began teaching, and in 1935 became head of the department general physics Kharkov University. It was during these years that he formulated and began to implement his life program - to write full course theoretical physics and surround yourself with professionals: students, colleagues, associates. The fact that a twenty-four-year-old youth has Napoleonic plans is not uncommon. But the fact that he fully realized them is the greatest rarity and a unique achievement.
For the first few years, a wonderful scientific atmosphere reigned at UPTI. Cryogenic laboratory of the institute, the only one at that time on the territory Soviet Union, was headed by the Russian physicist, one of the pioneers of low-temperature physics, Lev Vasilyevich Shubnikov, with whom Landau had not only friendship, but also deep joint scientific interests. Around Landau and Shubnikov gathered a group of talented young people who were passionate about science. Kharkov hosted international physics conferences attended by prominent Western scientists. During Landau's stay in Kharkov, this city became the center of theoretical physics in the USSR.
In 1937, Lev Davidovich married K. T. Drobantseva, a native of Kharkov. In 1946 their son Igor, a future experimental physicist, was born.
Landau School
The school of Lev Landau began to be created - the first students appeared. Landau compiled a program of what the future young man should know scientist, if he wants to study theoretical physics (under his guidance, it was meant), - the famous theoretical minimum. The program operated from 1933 to 1962. And it should be added that the passing of the theoretical minimum did not stop after Landau's departure from scientific life as a result of a tragic car accident, Landau's students continued to take exams, later employees of the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after him. There is a list of those who passed the theoretical minimum compiled by Landau in 1961. The first five surnames are as follows: Kompaneets (1933), E. Lifshits (1934), Akhiezer (1935), Isaac Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk (1935), Tissa (1935).
First threat. Institute for Physical Problems
Since 1935, the situation at UPTI has changed tragically. The terror that engulfed the country in the second half of the 1930s did not bypass the UPTI. The fabricated "cases" ended with the arrests and executions of a number of leading employees of the institute. Shubnikov was shot in the dungeons of the Kharkov prison. Landau was not arrested at the time, but the threat of arrest was quite real. She forced him to "run away" from Kharkov. Fortunately, Landau had an invitation from Kapitsa to take the position of head of the theoretical department of the Institute for Physical Problems organized by the latter (now named after Kapitsa).
From 1937 to last day of his life, Lev Landau was an employee of the IPP. Together with the IFP and other academic institutions during the war with Nazi Germany Landau and a group of his employees were evacuated to Kazan (1941-43). Kapitsa said: “I did not see any obstacles to the creation of a special large institute of theoretical physics for Landau at the Academy of Sciences on the scale that he only wishes, but he always not only rejected these proposals, but even refused to discuss them. He said that he was happy to be a member of the team of our experimental institute.
Prison and the consequences of the horror experienced
"Escape" from Kharkov did not save Landau from arrest: on the night of April 27-28, 1938, he was arrested. The very next morning, April 28, Pyotr Kapitsa writes a letter to Stalin, trying to protect his colleague. Throughout the year, Kapitsa has not stopped trying to free Landau. In the autumn of 1938, Niels Bohr also tries to draw Stalin's attention to the fate of Landau: "if there has been a misunderstanding, Landau - Bohr hopes - will be able to continue the research work so important for the progress of mankind."
In April 1939, Lev Landau was released from prison "under the personal guarantee" of Kapitsa. Landau forever kept gratitude to Kapitsa, considering him his savior. Landau repeatedly repeated that if not for the help of Kapitsa, then in prison or in the camp he would certainly have died. The “case” of Landau (more precisely, that part of it that the heirs of the NKVD decided to make public) was published in 1991. Landau's relatives and friends knew that the arrest left fear in Landau's soul, which somewhat lessened after Stalin's death.
Return to scientific work
The external side of Landau's life after his arrest is quite prosperous, if we exclude the fact that Landau was "not allowed to travel abroad": he was deprived of the opportunity to freely communicate with foreign colleagues, he did not participate in international conferences if they were not held on the territory of the USSR. As it became known in last years, for many years Lev Landau was secretly monitored (in particular, his conversations with employees and friends were eavesdropped).
When Kapitsa was removed from the leadership of the IFP (1946-55), and the scientist, academician Anatoly Petrovich Aleksandrov, was appointed director of the institute, Landau was involved in the development of atomic weapons. After Stalin's death, Landau clearly articulated his desire to stop working on secret topics and achieved this.
Since 1943, Lev Landau returned to teaching. He taught at the physics and technology and physics departments of Moscow University.
World recognition of Lev Davidovich Landau
The merits of Lev Landau were repeatedly noted both within the country and abroad. In 1946, Landau was elected a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, he was repeatedly awarded orders, was a Hero of Socialist Labor, he was awarded State Prizes three times, and in 1962 Landau, together with Yevgeny Lifshitz, was awarded the Lenin Prize for the creation of the Course of Theoretical Physics. Landau was a member of many foreign academies, a laureate of honorary prizes, and had many medals. In 1962, Lev Landau received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for pioneering research on condensed matter, especially liquid helium."
Catastrophe
On January 7, 1962, on the highway from Moscow to Dubna, the car in which Lev Davidovich was driving collided with an oncoming truck. No one, except Landau, was hurt. In the struggle for Landau's life, doctors teamed up with physicists. The accident stirred up the entire physical community. Physicists different countries and different generations (comrades-in-arms and friends, students and students of students) sought to contribute to saving Landau's life; about a hundred Moscow physicists voluntarily took on the duties of couriers, car drivers, intermediaries, suppliers, secretaries, attendants, and finally, porters and laborers. What they managed to do was called the feat of the partnership: Landau's life was saved. After the accident, Landau lived for six years. He attended scientific councils, sometimes - at seminars. Colleagues and students who spoke with him occasionally heard and passed on to others some phrase that “reminiscent” of the former Landau.
The most important works of Lev Landau
In the year of Landau's death, a collection of his works was published. 98 articles reproduced in two volumes. The first came out in 1926. It is called "On the Theory of Spectra of Diatomic Molecules". In 1927, Landau published the article "The problem of damping in wave mechanics", in which the description of the state of systems using the density matrix was introduced for the first time. The last two articles are dated 1960. One of them is in ZhETF (Vol. 39. P. 1856) - “Small binding energies in quantum theory fields." It is devoted to the then relevant “direction in which Hamiltonians are not considered, but only unitarity relations and analytic properties of diagrams are used (quote from the article). Another article was published in the collection "Theoretical Physics in the 20th Century", dedicated to the memory of the Swiss theoretical physicist, one of the founders of quantum mechanics and relativistic quantum field theory, Wolfgang Pauli. It is called "On Fundamental Problems". In it, as in the article in ZhETF, speaking about attempts to construct a theory of elementary particles, Landau expresses his characteristic optimism: “It seems to me that the time is not far off when the equations of the new theory will be finally written.” True, Lev Landau immediately warns: even in best case(in constructing a consistent theory) we have an uphill battle ahead of us. In this he was right.
Scientific legacy of Landau
The list of Lev Davidovich's articles strikes, first of all, with its breadth. "This solid volume (on English language The collected works of Landau were published in one volume) evoke feelings similar to those evoked by the complete collection of Shakespeare's plays or the Kechel catalog of Mozart's works. The immensity of what is done by one person always seems incredible. Lev Landau is apparently one of the last encyclopedists: his contribution to theoretical physics covers everything from hydrodynamics to quantum field theory. The introduction of the principle of conservation of combined parity coexists in his work with the theory of second-order phase transitions and the theory of the intermediate state of superconductors. And the study of the foundations of quantum electrodynamics - with the construction of the theory of quantum liquids (in particular, Landau belongs to the explanation of the nature of superfluidity).
Although Landau's scientific work ended about 40 years ago, the results he obtained belong by no means only to the history of science. The Landau-Lifshitz and Ginzburg-Landau equations, the energy spectrum of superfluid helium, the Fermi liquid theory, Landau damping, the Landau energy levels of an electron in a magnetic field, the order parameter for describing second-order phase transitions, the study of the foundations of quantum electrodynamics, and much more are actively “working” in today's physics.
Theoretical Physics Course by Lev Landau
The legacy of Lev Davidovich is not limited to the results obtained by him personally and with co-authors. An important place in his creative heritage is occupied by the Course of Theoretical Physics (the famous "Landau and Lifshitz"). It can be said without exaggeration that “The course has changed the face of theoretical physics. Many sections of theoretical physics are presented in it in a completely new way. The authors of the "Course" managed to combine the presentation of the main sections of theoretical physics with the consideration of specific natural phenomena. From disparate disciplines, a single science was born - theoretical physics, having mastered the methods of which, one can approach the solution of new, continuously emerging problems in the shortest way. Note that one of Lev Landau's "commandments" says: "Life is too short to spend it on solving problems."
As previously mentioned, the Course was conceived by Landau in his youth. A detailed plan of the entire course was drawn up, which, of course, was changed and supplemented, since theoretical physics changed, expanded and improved. Seven volumes were written with Landau's direct participation: Mechanics, Field Theory, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Physics (Part 1), Hydrodynamics, Theory of Elasticity, and Electrodynamics of Continuous Media. After 1962, one volume - Quantum electrodynamics was written by V. B. Berestetsky, E. M. Lifshits and L. P. Pitaevsky (all of them are students of Landau); two volumes - Statistical Physics (Part 2) and Kinetics were written by E. M. Lifshits and L. P. Pitaevsky. "The course of Landau and Lifshitz has been translated into different languages, all over the world several generations of theoretical physicists have studied and are studying according to it. For many, the volumes of the Course are desk books.
Landau's teacher and students
Starting from the Kharkov period, Lev Landau was surrounded by students. He generously gave his time to them, shared ideas, while at the same time providing complete independence. But Lev Davidovich also received a lot from his students. He hardly read scientific literature. His disciples read and told him. As a rule, Leo was only interested in the idea of the work and the result obtained in it. Landau (often in his own way) reproduced the work that interested, but inspires fear in the correctness. And if the result turned out to be correct, then it “settled” forever in Landau’s endless memory, and sometimes ended up on the “Golden List”, which he kept all his life.
Relations between Landau and his students were completely informal. With the great respect that the students had for the teacher, many of them were with Landau on "you". Jokes, sometimes very sharp, were allowed on both sides and met without offense. This was especially clearly manifested during the witty skit in honor of the 50th anniversary of Lev Landau. Landau had a very trusting relationship with many of his students. His views, very significantly different from the generally accepted ones, Lev Davidovich often openly preached among his students.
Seminar Landau
Lev Landau attached great importance to the weekly seminar held at the IFP. Nothing but the leader's illness could prevent the seminar from taking place. The seminar presented how independent work as well as magazine articles. Landau took the preparation of the meeting of the seminar with the utmost seriousness. The speaker "from outside", i.e., not one of those whose work he followed directly and knew about its readiness for a report, had to first "break through" the work through Landau. Articles from magazines for the report Lev Davidovich selected independently and distributed among the students. Speaking at the seminar was not easy: critical remarks, questions were not limited. Any participant in the seminar, and, of course, Landau could interrupt the speaker at any moment. In order to “not be driven away” (and this happened), the speaker had to know the work not “in general”, but in all details, be able to explain all the essential details of the calculation, have a good idea of the state of the experiment and the work of predecessors.
The difficulties of speaking at Landau's seminar paid off: the work reported at it and accepted by the audience and Landau, as it were, "received a quality mark" - was perceived as obviously correct. It must be said that there were few errors in the evaluation of the works. Formally, the seminar that Landau created and led was called the All-Moscow Seminar on Theoretical Physics, but in fact it was attended (as listeners and speakers) by theoretical physicists from many cities of the Soviet Union: Leningrad, Kharkov, Kiev, Tbilisi. Many theoretical physicists from various institutes and universities "stretched" to Landau, forming what was called the "Landau School" throughout the scientific world.
The light of an extinguished star
40–50 years for theoretical physics is a long time. Several generations of theoretical physicists have grown up who know Landau only from Kurs and his works, which are still cited. The Institute for Theoretical Physics named after Landau has been established and is operating. Many of Landau's students, students of his students, work in various prestigious scientific centers in the West. It is very difficult to evaluate in a short article what Landau did, what he left to people. But when in scientific journal one comes across an article in which a precisely stated problem is solved by an elegant mathematically adequate method, or a speaker at a seminar in a short speech tells how he solved a problem that has haunted theorists for many years, the thought arises that Landau would like the work, the presentation. And you understand: in today's theoretical physics, there are many things from its great creators, and Landau is one of them.
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LANDAU LEV DAVIDOVICH
(b. 1908 - d. 1968)
An outstanding Soviet theoretical physicist, founder of a scientific school, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1946), professor at the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology (1935–1937), Moscow University (1943–1947) and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology ( 1947–1950). Laureate of the State (1946, 1949, 1953), Lenin (1962) and Nobel (1962) prizes. Hero of Socialist Labor (1954), holder of three Orders of Lenin and other Soviet orders and medals, as well as the medals of Max Planck (FRG) and Fritz London (Canada). Foreign member of the Royal Society of London, the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Sciences, the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences, and an honorary member of the American Academy of Sciences and Arts, the London Physical Society, the French Physical Society.
Landau went down in history as an outstanding scientist, talented teacher, educator of theoretical physicists, not only as the author of an original system for their effective training, but also as the creator of a large school with its own style and traditions. The name of Lev Davidovich is also associated with his famous ten-volume course "Theoretical Physics", translated into many languages, since it simply has no analogues in the world.
The depth of a true scientist was combined in him with the features of a teenager - in everything that did not concern science. An honest, freedom-loving teenager, sometimes charming, sometimes unbearable, who could not stand understatement in relations between people.
His ideas about how "one should live", his "Theory of Happiness" are very non-trivial, logically consistent, substantiated, tested in practice. Landau also created the "Non-Aggression Marriage Pact". And Dau (nickname Landau) considered his theory “How a man should build his personal life correctly” to be an outstanding work. He always regretted that his best theory would never be published.
He impressed those around him with his punctuality and commitment. “I have never been late for a single minute anywhere in my life,” said Lev Davidovich. “And if he promised something, he always fulfilled it.”
One of the greatest physicists of the world was born on January 9 (22), 1908 in Baku. His father worked as a petroleum engineer in the local oil fields, and his mother worked as a doctor. Leva from an early age developed comprehensively, was fond of poetry, studied German and French. (Later, before going to England, he learned English on his own in a month and could freely communicate with Western colleagues.) Father, David Lvovich, studied a lot with his son, especially mathematics, which made it possible for the boy to show remarkable mathematical abilities very early.
In 1916, Leva entered the gymnasium and at the age of 13 received a matriculation certificate. Parents believed that for higher educational institution the son is too young, and he studied for a year at the Baku Economic College. In 1922, the 14-year-old Leva successfully passed the exams at the Baku University for physics and mathematics, and two years later he transferred to St. Petersburg University. He studied so intensely that at night he dreamed of formulas.
In 1926, the first scientific work of a 16-year-old student was published - "On the theory of the spectra of diatomic molecules." In December of the same year, he participated in the work of the Fifth Congress of Russian Physicists in Moscow. In 1927, 19-year-old Landau graduated from the university and was accepted as a graduate student at the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology, where he worked on the magnetic theory of the electron and quantum electrodynamics. By this time, Leva managed to publish four scientific papers. In one of them (“The problem of braking by radiation”), to describe the state of systems, he first introduced a new important concept into quantum mechanics - the density matrix.
In 1929-1931, the postgraduate student visited Germany, Switzerland, England, the Netherlands and Denmark, where he worked in the best scientific centers and met the founders of quantum mechanics - W. Heisenberg, W. Pauli and N. Bohr, whom he considered his teacher.
In 1929, the Chekists arrested his father for possession of royal gold coins. Although David Lvovich was soon released, the fact of his father's "counter-revolutionary" activities became an integral part of the biography of Academician L. D. Landau. This "spot" remained until the end of his life.
In 1930, the work of 22-year-old Lev on diamagnetism was published (later this phenomenon was called "Landau diamagnetism") and other works. Unusually high successes put forward researcher among the world's leading theoretical physicists.
In March 1931, Lev returned to Leningrad, where, they say, he did not get along with the director of the Institute of Physics and Technology, Academician A.F. Ioffe. Perhaps that is why the next year he moved to Kharkov - he was invited to the Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology (UFTI). Here young, but already worldwide famous physicist headed the theoretical department and at the same time headed the departments of theoretical physics at the Kharkov Mechanical Engineering Institute and at the university. The scientific school that grew up around the 24-year-old Dau (as his students and close collaborators affectionately called him) turned Kharkov into a leading center of Soviet theoretical physics. Not only all-Union, but also international physics conferences with the participation of prominent Western scientists were held here.
For a thorough training of future young scientific theorists in all areas of physics, Landau developed a rigorous training program - the famous "theoretical minimum". The requirements for applicants for the right to participate in the work of the seminar he led were so high that in 30 years, despite the large flow of applicants, only 40 people passed the theoretical minimum exams. But for those who overcame the barrier, Leo generously gave his time, gave them freedom in choosing the subject of research. In addition, together with a colleague and friend, E. M. Livshits, Lev Davidovich wrote a multi-volume "Course of Theoretical Physics", according to which physicists in many countries of the world are still studying.
In 1934 the All-Union certifying commission awarded 26-year-old Landau degree doctor of physical and mathematical sciences (without defending a dissertation), and a year later he became a professor.
Lev Davidovich, despite his respectable ranks and positions, never put on airs. Colleagues and students invariably recalled his sparkling humor, he called himself "merry Dau." In dealing with people, the professor did not recognize distances and with jokes set up the interlocutor in a trusting way. His well-aimed aphorisms like: “Priest of science?! Is this the one who eats at the expense of science? Or "Sciences are supernatural, natural and unnatural (option - natural, unnatural and unnatural)". For the 50th anniversary of Landau, a medal was cast with a beautiful chased profile of the hero of the day and a Latin inscription of his favorite expression “I hear from a fool!”
He did not know what boredom was, he was very fond of all sorts of practical jokes. Once an employee of his institute published his scientific work, full of absurdity and plagiarism. Landau wrote to N. Bohr in Copenhagen, asking him to send a telegram to the Institute on April 1 addressed to this unfortunate scientist. Like, the Nobel Committee is interested scientific discovery and asks such and such that the potential laureate on April 1 should present to L. D. Landau all his works, retyped on a typewriter in two copies. Looking down on everyone, the unfortunate "great scientist" ran in the morning to be photographed, poking everyone to read Bohr's international telegram. Drunk with happiness, with a self-satisfied smile "without five minutes Nobel Laureate” even stopped saying hello to some acquaintances. One can imagine what happened to him when, having put the reprinted works on Landau's desk, he suddenly heard: “Did you really think that they could give the Nobel Prize for this nonsense? Happy April 1st!
The worst assessment that Lev Davidovich could give to one of the people around him was a boring person. He created a comic "Theory of boredom", in which even a "unit of boredom" was introduced with the following definition: "An hour with him kills an elephant."
In 1934, in Kharkov, Lev met his future wife, a process engineer. Food Industry Concordia Drobantseva. “He did not drink, did not smoke, was not a gourmet, was absolutely indifferent to luxury ... And all the beauty of nature for him merged into the image of a charming female beauty!" – recalled Cora Landau. In 1937 they got married, in July 1946 Garik was born to them, who later worked as an experimental physicist at his father's institute. Cora wanted her son to bear the surname Landau and be Russian. Lev disagreed: “If Landau is a Jew, and if you want to record him as Russian, then let him be Drobantsev. It's funny - Landau - and Russian. Since it was impossible to argue with him, the wife agreed, and they agreed on the decision to record the son under the name of the father.
According to the niece of the brilliant scientist, Ella, for quite a long time Lev Davidovich's wife remained his only woman. But even before the wedding, he told her: "The foundation of our marriage will be personal freedom." Landau had mistresses, Concordia knew this, but she was obviously satisfied with a comfortable and carefree life at the expense of her husband, and she tolerated betrayal.
The lion was greedy for beauties. So, he told one dissertation student that he would come to Leningrad to oppose his doctoral dissertation only if a suitable lady was found to get acquainted with him. The poor dissertation student called his acquaintances, and they found some woman. But Dau, barely looking at her, twisted his face, so that the acquaintance did not take place. Nevertheless, the dissertation defense was successful.
Landau created the "Non-Aggression Marriage Pact". Here is one of the points: “All my income was divided as follows: 60% to my wife for all the needs of the family, including her husband, 40% to her husband for personal use.
- Korusha, you should know: I will spend my 40% on philanthropy, helping my neighbor and, of course, on those girls I will meet ...
His philanthropy mainly consisted in the fact that he financially supported the families of five physicists who died in prison during the Stalinist era: “You know, Korochka, I really like to give good people money…"
In 1935 Stalinist repressions did not pass the UFTI, which was at that time scientific center world level. By 1937, the Kharkov Institute of Physics was destroyed, and Landau himself escaped arrest only by fleeing to Moscow. He was urgently invited by the famous scientist Pyotr Kapitsa to his Institute for Physical Problems. But in April 1938, Lev was arrested anyway, accused of espionage, sabotage, participation in the compilation of an anti-Stalinist leaflet. During 1938-1939 he was under investigation in the Butyrka prison. In the cell, the prisoner "had fun" by teasing the sycophants: "I really like to tease when there is something!"
As a result of the petition of P. Kapitsa and N. Bor to Stalin and Beria with a request to release Landau "on bail" under the personal responsibility of Kapitsa, Lev Davidovich was released, but he was rehabilitated only in 1990.
He was a free-thinking person and perfectly understood that he lived in a totalitarian state. Nevertheless, despite the difficult prison experience and the warnings of friends that he is being constantly monitored and eavesdropped on at work and at home, the scientist spoke about the USSR as follows: “Our system is a fascist system. Our rulers are fascists from head to toe. They may be more liberal, less liberal, but their ideas are fascist. The fact that Lenin was the first fascist is clear.” About politics Soviet government during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956: "Our leaders decided to splash themselves with blood ... We have these criminals who run the country."
During the Second World War, Landau was engaged in the study of combustion and explosions and other scientific works, for which in 1946 he was awarded the first Stalin Prize in his life. Then the academician led a group of theorists who carried out fantastically complex calculations of thermonuclear chain reactions to create nuclear weapons.
Work on the atomic project did not attract the scientist, and he tried to keep it to a minimum: “A reasonable person should stay as far away as possible from practical activities of this kind. If it were not for my fifth point (nationality), I would not be engaged in special work, but only in science, from which I am now lagging behind.
In 1953, when the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb was tested, its main creators, including Landau, received gold stars of the Heroes of Socialist Labor, the Order of Lenin, and State Prizes. But it was impossible to travel abroad to international symposiums. Lev Davidovich perceived his scientific loneliness as a tragedy. Later, he turned to N. S. Khrushchev, but he was not even allowed to travel to China.
Those who knew Lev Davidovich closely said that he was almost always in a state of creative tension. At times, overwhelmed by a new idea, he would lose sleep and forget about food. This is how new fundamental works and scientific discoveries appeared.
Landau's wife recalled: “Dau studied only at home. He refused his own office at the institute: “I don’t know how to sit, but there’s nowhere to lie there” ... He talked about science with physicists, students and visitors at home, in the foyer of the institute or walking along the long institute corridors, and in warm seasons - around the territory of the institute .
- Korusha, I went to the institute to scratch my tongue.
This meant that employees and students were waiting for him, he would give lectures, conduct seminars, talk about science or consult. Dau was engaged in real science only in solitude, lying on an ottoman surrounded by pillows.
The brilliant scientist had unique ability to mathematical calculations. He never used a slide rule, or tables of logarithms, or reference books. The physicist made all these most complicated calculations in his mind. But sometimes the most elementary everyday questions baffled him. Landau's wife recalled an episode that took place during the war: “Having provided Dau with all the accumulated meat coupons in the morning, I said that I would be very happy if he really brought meat, but it borders on a miracle ... They brought lamb. My husband immediately had a question: “Is lamb meat?” - to resolve which he could not, here his brain was powerless. He asked one of the employees in line about this, and she replied: “Yeah, meat is beef, and lamb is lamb.” Leo could not go against the truth and left the queue very upset.
On January 7, 1962, on the way to Dubna, Lev Davidovich got into a car accident. He was on his way to help his niece Ella, the daughter of his sister Sonya. (It so happened that the niece left her husband and found herself in a difficult situation.) On a slippery highway, the scientist's car collided with a truck. Everyone escaped with fright, minor bruises and scratches, and Dau received serious fractures, brain damage and internal organs. For six weeks, the victim remained unconscious and for almost three months did not even recognize his relatives.
The accident stirred up the entire scientific community. Doctors and physicists from different countries sought to contribute to the salvation of the great scientist, and he miraculously survived. Dau returned to speech, he began to walk, but creative activity could no longer work. Lev Davidovich remembered poems, some old events, but he did not remember who visited him yesterday, what happened an hour ago. And, worst of all, the eminent physicist lost interest in life and others.
In 1962, L. D. Landau was awarded the Lenin Prize, as well as the Nobel Prize in Physics "for pioneering work in the theory of condensed matter, especially liquid helium." (It so happened that he wrote the work itself before his arrest back in 1938.) The laureate could not go to Stockholm, and this high award presented to him in Moscow by the Ambassador of Sweden.
Shortly before death great physicist said, “I have had a good life. I have always succeeded." Those were his last words. On April 1, 1968, he died in a Moscow hospital.
In the year of the death of an outstanding scientist, a collection of his works was published in various fields of physics - quantum electrodynamics, magnetism, superfluidity and superconductivity, solid state physics, atomic nucleus and elementary particles, plasma physics, astrophysics and others. Such breadth of Landau's scientific creativity is unprecedented in its range.
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First, education in the biography of Lev Landau was received at a Jewish gymnasium. Then he studied in parallel in two specialties (Physics and Mathematics, Chemistry) at the State Azerbaijan University (1922 - 1924), then transferred to Leningrad University. In graduate school, he studied at the Physical-Technical Institute of Leningrad.
It was possible to further increase the scientific level in the biography of Academician Landau during his studies in Germany, Denmark, England, and Switzerland. By studying physical phenomena studied while working at the Institute of Physics and Technology, the Institute of Physical Problems. The first publications in the biography of the physicist Landau were made in 1926. In 1934 he married K. Drobantseva. In the same year, he received a doctorate in physical and mathematical sciences even before defending his dissertation. Lev Davidovich Landau lectured and taught at many universities.
In 1938, the great scientist was arrested for anti-Soviet activities, he was in prison for a year. A car accident in 1962 was the reason for a two-month stay in a coma, after which Landau left his scientific activity.
During his biography, Landau managed to make a significant contribution to the development of such areas of physics as: low temperatures, the atomic nucleus, plasma, solid state, cosmic rays, quantum field theory and mechanics. In 1962, the biography of L. D. Landau became known as a Nobel Prize winner. He received such a high award for research on condensed matter, helium.
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