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Nobel prize of Physics 1908 for colour photography 39/6 The liquefaction of helium 2008 th 8 e er(ihu VAT) (without year per 88€ price: subscription Institutional The 100 birthday of Lev Landau 39 Volume Complexity in condensed matter and statistical physics

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European Physical Society Th ThE 100 BirThDAy oF LEV LANDAu >>> hiSTory

ev Davidovich Landau is one of the of the Physical and Mechanical Faculty was His next step was Moscow and the Insti- news and views L most versatile and influential theoretical I. V. Obreimov, who offered Landau the tute of Physics Problems headed by Kapitza. physicists of the 20th century. He was born leadership position of the theoretical section After one year, in the spring of 1938 Lan- on 22 January 1908 in Baku, a capital of with full freedom of action. In 1934, with- dau was arrested. He spent one year in Azerbaijan, at the time part of the Russian out formal defense of a thesis he is awarded prison and was released after the interven- Empire. His parents were educated people. a degree of Doctor of physical and mathe- tions to the highest authorities by Kapitza His father was an engineer in the oil fields of matical sciences and next year, at 27, he be- who insisted that only Landau was able to the Caspian Sea, his mother a medical doc- comes a full professor. Here he starts with explain his experiments with liquid helium. tor, taking care of the family. As a child he his educational activities which extend far He has written 115 scientific papers, has shown an unusual fascination with beyond the walls of his new Institute. Ac- about half of them as coauthor. The publi- mathematics, but was also fond of Russian cording to the reminiscences of two stu- cations appeared at an average rate of little poetry, Lermontov in particular. He went dents of Kharkov University, Y. Feinberg over three papers per year. His most pro- quickly through the schooling system and and B. Verkin, who later became members ductive year was 1937 with 10 publications. readily entered University of Baku at the age of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, after Only in 1952 and 1953 he did not publish of 14 to study physics and mathematics, anything when he was involved in the proj- and in parallel chemistry. Expectedly this ect of the Soviet nuclear weapon. was met with some suspicion from the fel- The largest portion of his publications is low students until they realized that the connected to condensed matter and includes young boy was competent enough to pro- a development of a theory of phase transitions vide them with assistance in their studies. of second order,with extensions to the theory After two years he followed his sister to con- of (with V. L. Ginzburg), tinue his studies in Leningrad, at that time theory of superfluidity,diamagnetism of elec- the most developed center for physics in the trons, theory of quantum liquids and plasma Soviet Union. At the age of 19 he got the oscillations, properties of metals. Other fields diploma of physicist and already had his that he addressed are cosmic rays, quantum first published paper - On the theory of ᭡ Conversation between two nobel laureates, electrodynamics, properties of nuclear mat- spectra of diatomic molecules, Zeitschrift fűr Murray gell-Mann and l. d. landau (on the right) ter,non-conservation of parity in beta decays. Physik 40, 621 (1926). at a conference held in Moscow in 1956. The list is not exhaustive. He continued to work at the University InparalleltohisscientificworkLandauen- in Leningrad until 1929, when a scholar- a few lectures at the beginning of semester visaged a large project of an encyclopedic ship from the Peoples Commissar for in 1935 given by the dean of the Faculty, course of theoretical physics. The course in- Education (equivalent to Minister of Edu- professor A. V. Zhelehovskiy, he intro- cludes ten volumes of approximately 5000 cation) enabled him to go abroad on an 18 duced to the students a young man who pages coauthored with E. M. Lifshits, the last months visit to Berlin, Göttingen, Leipzig, would replace him and would continue three being written by Lifshits, Berestetskiy Copenhagen, Cambridge and Zurich where with lectures in General Physics. At first and Pitaevskiy. They were translated into he met many of the most prominent physi- the students were surprised by the unusual many languages and made an influence cists of that period: Born, Heisenberg, Bohr, exposition of the material, but became throughout the world. Closely related to this Dirac, Pauli. The longest stay was in convinced later that they had been lucky fundamentaltreatiseisthecreationoftheLan- Copenhagen where a relationship with to be exposed to such an outstanding set dauschooloftheoreticalphysics.Heenvisaged Bohr developed whom Landau considered of lectures. They were not so appreciative a system of examinations known as Landau as his teacher ever since. The seminars at of Landau’s way of examination. Even less minimum which included 2 exams in math- Bohr’s Institute and those organized by so was the administration. Landau was ematics and 7 exams in different branches of Yakov Frenkel’ in Leningrad completed the summoned to the rector, a few words were theoreticalphysics.During25years,theexams education of Landau.Together with Gamov exchanged which lead to a treat of firing. have been passed by 43 physicists and the very he proposed to establish in Leningrad an Colleagues, however, showed solidarity with first (1933-35) to succeed were A. S. Kompa- Institute of theoretical physics on the model Landau and refused to continue teaching. neets, E. M. Lifshits, A. I. Akhiezer, I. Y. of the Institute in Copenhagen, but the idea The ‘strikers’ were invited to Kiev where Pomeranchuk and L.Tisza. did not get support. they had a meeting with the entire Ukrain- Landau received many recognitions, For five years (1932-37) Landau was in ian government. But Landau decided to among them the highest awards in his Kharkov, affiliated to the Ukrainian Physi- leave anyway. During his stay in Kharkov homeland. He was member of the Acade- cal and Technical Institute (UFTI). UFTI three large conferences were organized and mies of the Soviet Union, United States, was established in 1928 and its core of tal- many physicists from abroad paid visits, Netherlands, Denmark and Fellow of the ented young physicists came mostly from Niels Bohr, Victor Weisskopf, Paul Dirac, Royal Society in London. The 1962 Leningrad. The director of UFTI and dean Waller, Rosenfeld and others. Nobel prize was awarded to Landau “for

10 • volume 39 • number 6 europhysicsnews news and views

his pioneering theories of condensed mat- were consulted, physicists organized shifts on At the beginning of his scientific ca- ter, especially liquid helium”. duty for continuous and quick communica- reer, when quantum mechanics was born, His character had a strong note of sharp- tions. It was a rare display of unity in the Landau had the feeling that he was born ness,bothtowardmorejuniorandseniorpeo- world at a time when it was highly divided. too late when the most significant dis- ple. Such exchanges caused his move to and Landau recovered from the catastrophe al- coveries had already been established. from Kharkov, although in the second case though not entirely to be able to continue Knowing his achievements perhaps one other considerations could have played a role. with his research. He died on 1 April 1968. could wonder whether he was not born At the door of his office in Kharkov below his To commemorate the 100th anniversary too early and what would have been his name, he himself had posted a warning “Be of Landau, the Russian Academy of Sciences contributions to the vast knowledge of careful, he is biting”. But what characterized had a scientific session of its Physics Depart- modern science. him most was perhaps his ability for work ment (22-23 Jan. 2008). The Academy Among several biographies of Landau, the and his efficiency. He was married to Kora hosted a Memorial Meeting (19-20 June work of his niece Maya Bessarab, which had Dobryantseva and they had one son, Igor. 2008) and the Landau Institute forTheoret- several editions, holds a prominent place. In January 1962 on the way from ical Physics organized the L.D. Landau Me- The first 1971 edition begins with a citation Moscow to Dubna, after a collision Landau morial Conference (22-26 June 2008), both from a letter of Landau to Maya: “It is most was close to death.The efforts of medical staff with strong participation of invited speakers important to do everything with enthusiasm, and many others succeeded to keep him from outside Russia. Two conferences dedi- it embellishes life enormously”. I alive. It is difficult to describe in a few words cated to Landau were organized in Kharkov, all the efforts of doctors, physicists and oth- one around the theme of Problems of Solid V.Peschansky 1 and V.urumov 2 ers from the entire world providing help for State Physics (11-13 Dec. 2007) and one 1 B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Landau. Pilots delivered medicaments on the with memorial lectures, scientific reports and Physics and Engineering, Ukrainian National tarmacs of the airports to be brought quic- reports of young scientists (15-16 Jan. 2008). Academy of Sciences, Kharkov, Ukraine kly to the hospital, special equipment was The Ukrainian national bank issued a coin 2 Institute of Physics, Saints Cyril and constructed, specialists from other countries of two grivna to commemorate the scientist. Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia

g. F. BASSANi (1929-2008) >>> oBiTuAry

iuseppe , a chief Normale Superiore – an institution which Gfounder of the modern Italian con- he eventually directed from 1996 to 1999. densed-matter theory school, died in Theory groups in , at the Interna- on September 25, 2008. Born in 1929 in tional Centre for Theoretical Physics, at the Milan, Bassani received his training in the University,and at the International School for early 1950s at the , under Advanced Studies owe a great deal to his in- the influence of the theoretical school of fluence, as does the group at the Ecole Poly- important recognitions and awards, includ- Piero Caldirola. He then worked in the US, technique Federale of Lausanne. A staunch ing the Somaini Prize, the Italgas Prize, the at the University of Illinois at Urbana- believerandsupporterofItalianandEuropean Italian Presidential Gold Medal for Science Champaign, where he regarded himself a physics in all its manifestations, he also served and Culture. Giuseppe-Franco Bassani was student of , and later at Ar- as President of the Condensed Matter Divi- elected Fellow of the EPS at the Council gonne National Laboratories. Of this early sion of the European Physical Society (EPS) meeting in Mulhouse in March 2008 ‘for his period are his seminal contributions that from 1984 to 1992 and President of the Ital- fundamental contributions to the theory of the helped create and establish modern elec- ian Physical Society from 1999 to 2007. electronic states of solids and to the explanations tronic theory of solids based on pseudo- His contributions include among many of their optical properties’. potentials and explain the connections other themes the theory of color centres in A teacher, mentor and colleague of great between electronic structure and optical ionic crystals, the theory of , the rigor,vigourandprinciplescoupledwithanex- properties, especially of semiconductors. electronic structure and optical properties of tremelywarmhumantract,Bassaniwasmuch Upon his return to in 1963, he con- layered compounds, and the theory of non- respected in the community and beloved by ducted and encouraged vigorous research, linear optical properties. his numerous students, now spread around raised students, and established lively con- A member of Italy's Accademia Nazionale various institutions in Europe and abroad. I densed matter theory groups at the Univer- dei Lincei and a Fellow of the American sities of Messina, Pisa, (La Sapienza), Physical Society and of the Institute of , SISSA, ICTP,and Democritos and finally at Pisa's prestigious Scuola Physics of the U.K., Bassani received National Simulation Center, Trieste, Italy

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