Lev Landau
Soviet physicist
Died when: 60 years 70 days (722 months)Star Sign: Aquarius
Lev Davidovich Landau (Russian: ??? ????´????? ?????´?; 22 January 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet physicist of Jewish descent who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics.
His accomplishments include the independent co-discovery of the density matrix method in quantum mechanics (alongside John von Neumann), the quantum mechanical theory of diamagnetism, the theory of superfluidity, the theory of second-order phase transitions, the Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity, the theory of Fermi liquids, the explanation of Landau damping in plasma physics, the Landau pole in quantum electrodynamics, the two-component theory of neutrinos, and Landau's equations for S matrix singularities.
He received the 1962 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).