Lev Landau

Soviet theoretical physicist (1908–1968)

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Scientists rank#105

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Fame68.5
Momentum4.4
Scientists rank#105
Wikipedia28K

Lived 1908–1968, aged 60

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Wikipedia
90 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1908–1968
Aged 60
Awards
13
recognised works

Summary

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.

Biography

About

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…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Lev Landau

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

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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