Baku, January 8, AZERTAC
Lev Davidovic Landau was born in Baku on January 22, 1908, as the son of an engineer and a physician. After graduating from the Physical Department of Leningrad University at the age of 19, he began his scientific career at the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute.
Landau`s work covers all branches of theoretical physics, ranging from fluid mechanics to quantum field theory. A large portion of his papers refers to the theory of the condensed state. Landau`s accomplishments include the independent co-discovery of the density matrix method in quantum mechanics, the quantum mechanical theory of diamagnetism, the theory of super fluidity, the theory of second-order phase transitions, the Ginsburg-Landau theory of superconductivity, the theory of Fermi liquids, the explanation of Landau damping in plasma physics.
In 1962 Landau received the 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). Landau is a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (London), of the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences, of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Sciences.