Lev Landau
saidundated
This work contains many things which are new and interesting. Unfortunately, everything that is new is not interesting, and everything which is interesting, is not new.
Lev Landau
Soviet theoretical physicist (1908–1968)
- Fame68.5
- Momentum4.4
- Scientists rank#104
Source-basedFalling
- Fame68.5
- Momentum4.4
- Scientists rank#104
- Wikipedia28K
Lived 1908–1968, aged 60
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Updated 2026-06-08
He cracked superfluidity, phase transitions, plasma damping, and half a dozen other foundational problems across quantum mechanics and condensed matter — one of the last physicists to command the entire field before it splintered into specialties.
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Lev Davidovich Landau was born on 22 January 1908 in the Soviet Union and became the era's defining theoretical physicist, moving fluently between quantum mechanics, condensed matter, and field theory when most researchers were narrowing their scope. He co-discovered the density matrix method independently of von Neumann, explained diamagnetism and Fermi liquids, invented the order parameter technique for phase transitions, and co-developed the Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity. His theory of superfluidity — accounting for liquid helium II's strange behavior below 2.17 K — earned him…
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Lev Landau
saidundated
In the 1930s Landau was already saying, "I am one of the few universal physicists"; after the death of Enrico Fermi, this became "I am the last of the universal physicists".
— as reported by Anna Livanova (and as translated by J. B. Sykes),
Lev Landau
saidundated
A method is more important than a discovery, since the right method will lead to new and even more important discoveries.
— reported by Lance Dixon
Lev Landau
saidundated
People who hear of some extraordinary phenomenon start proposing to explain it with improbable hypotheses. First consider the simplest explanation: that it's all nonsense.
— reported by Boris Ioffe in: (quote from p. 25)
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Historical25.0
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Source confidence60.0
Completeness60.0
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- WikipediaHigh confidencewikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
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