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.